TRUMP HAS NO CLUE WHY STATES WON’T GIVE UP THEIR VOTER DATA

… Mississippi Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, says the Trump commission asking for the state’s voter data can "go jump in the Gulf of Mexico”.

 

 

The Red state voter ID laws that were written by Kris Kobach, the Kansas Sec of State, who is now the appointed head of Trump’s bogus voter integrity commission

 

Once again, the president showed his ignorance when he tweeted a question asking what did all the states have to hide when now 45 states have refused to submit all their voter data to the bogus Trump commission trying to prove massive voter fraud. (And that Trump won the 2016 popular vote…HA!)  The president doesn’t realize that his commission, is headed up by Kris Kobach, the instigator of all those many Red state’s illegal voter suppression and voter ID laws.  You know, the ones that the federal courts have ruled unconstitutional.

 

The 10th Amendment, the one that gives any power not listed in the US Constitution, to the states, is like the nation’s budget deficit. You only learn what the Republicans genuinely think about regarding the deficit, or the 10^th Amendment, when their own party has control of the federal government.

 

 

The GOP lawmakers, when they don’t have the White House, always talk up “states’ rights” while yelling about out-of-control government spending. But today, less than six months into President Trump’s bizarre term, that concern has fallen away. Each day into Trump’s term brings fresh examples of the GOP’s rank and total hypocrisy.

 

However, I do have to admit that there are some principled conservative politicians who are not blind to the president's wishes and that follow the appropriate moral compass regardless of whether the Republicans are in power or out in the wilderness

 

In those 45 states that are not sending their voter info to Trump’s trumped-up commission, many of them are run by Republicans.  It was a political career-defining “litmus test” for those GOP Secretaries of State in capitals across the country. By their refusing to participate in the Trump fishing expedition that was created by Trump himself for bolstering his ridiculous false claim that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”.   A number of Republican Secretaries in ruby-red states are demonstrating a politically courageous commitment to real federalism.

 

This pushback from the right wing across the country, more than any other factor, has now imperiled the potential survival of the “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.”

 

“I denied the Obama Justice Department’s request, and I’m denying President Trump’s Commission’s request because they are both politically motivated,” Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler (R) said in a statement. “The release of private information creates a tremendous breach of trust with voters who work hard to protect themselves against identity fraud. … This Commission needs to understand clearly (that) disclosure of such sensitive information is more likely to diminish voter participation rather than foster it. I have been fighting this kind of federal intrusion and overreach, and will continue to fight like hell for the people who trust me with the integrity of our election process.”

 

What also hasn’t been stated is that the commission had stated that the data would all be held on what they call a “super-secure computer system”……Right!!!!!!  Since the Russians and the Chinese have been shown to have hacked into some highly secure systems, wouldn’t a single computer with the nation’s voter data be the gold standard for having a target placed on it by the Russians, or other illegitimate computer hackers?  There is a real reason that the elections are the responsibility of 50 different states, and that the voter data is not in the control of a single central government operation.

 

“This is not sitting well with me,” said Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray (R). He told the Casper Wyoming Star-Tribune that he will not turn over any voter data: “Elections are the responsibility of states under the Constitution. I’m wondering if this request could lead to some federal overreach. … I have not experienced any secretary of state who has expressed any concerns or worry about fraud or some type of nefarious activity occurring that jeopardizes their respective election process.”

 

Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, another Republican, called the commission a “hastily organized experiment.” “I share the concerns of many Arizonans that the Commission’s request could implicate serious privacy concerns,” she wrote in an open letter. “Centralizing sensitive voter registration information from every US state is a potential target for nefarious actors who may be intent on further undermining our electoral process. … Without any explanation for how Arizona’s voter information would be safeguarded or what security protocols the Commission has put in place, I cannot in good conscience release Arizonans’ sensitive voter data for this hastily organized experiment.”

 

Of course, the bluntest statement of all came from that Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.  He set the tone for his counterparts when he announced before the commission’s letter even arrived at his office that he wouldn’t comply. “They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said of Trump’s panel. “Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our State’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”

 

Other Republican state secretaries have also declined to share information, but without such rhetorical flourishes, and that goes from Tennessee to South Dakota and Arkansas.

“The states that won’t provide all of their voter data grew to a group of at least 44, including California and Virginia.  They said they would provide nothing to the commission.”  Per reporter Mark Berman, “Others said they are hindered by state laws governing what voter information can be made public but will provide what they can. … More than two dozen states said they will provide some of the requested information, according to interviews, public statements and media accounts. Others have not announced decisions or elaborated on what they plan to provide. … Partial responses from the states could lead to further problems, experts say, because the commission could ultimately assemble disparate, and incomplete information in an effort to draw a national picture. The partial data could make it all largely worthless or totally misleading."

…Here is Donald Trump w/ Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the man that started it all.

 

Vice President Mike Pence is the chair of the commission and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), a former state GOP chairman is the man who has falsely long insisted without any proof that there is widespread voter fraud.  He is the vice chair. Just last month, a federal judge fined Kobach $1,000 for making “patently misleading representations” to the court about documents relevant to an ongoing voting rights case.

 

I will have more on all this at a later date.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017