Trump's voter-fraud commission wants to know voting history, party ID and address of every voter in

[highplainsdem]

Source: WaPo

"Trump’s voter-fraud commission wants to know voting history, party ID and address of every voter in the U.S." (full headline)

The chair of President Trump's Election Integrity Commission has penned a letter to all 50 states requesting their full voter-role data, including the name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security number digits and voting history back to 2006 of potentially every voter in the state.

In the letter, a copy of which was made public by the Connecticut secretary of state, the commission head Kris Kobach said that “any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public.”

On Wednesday, the office of Vice President Pence released a statement saying “a letter will be sent today to the 50 states and District of Columbia on behalf of the Commission requesting publicly available data from state voter rolls and feedback on how to improve election integrity.”

Under federal law, each state must maintain a central file of registered voters. States collect different amounts of information on voters. While the files are technically public records, states usually charge fees to individuals or entities who want to access them. Political campaigns and parties typically use these files to compile their massive voter lists.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/29/trumps-voter-fraud-commission-wants-to-know-the-voting-history-party-id-and-address-of-every-voter-in-america/

[Skittles]

1. they need to know whose vote to suppress

[FakeNoose]

48. So when do we see his tax returns?

Yeah, I thought so.

I'll get right on it. NOT!

[mrmpa]

2. No fucking way...............

my vote is between me and the ballot box. My age is between me & the DMV. The last 4 digits of my social security number is between me, my bank & the credit bureau.

The election integrity commission has no right to this info.

[iluvtennis]

22. +++ agree

[hamsterjill]

23. The last 4 of the social is absurd.

Even if the whole thing isn't absurd, which it is, the social is a breach of privacy.

[cstanleytech]

41. I dont think it would include who you vote for rather it would include that you did vote however

this sounds like huge overreach on their part.

[SharonAnn]

58. But it will show if you have voted in an R or D primary

[cstanleytech]

60. Yup which is of course overreach on there part as its not something they truly need.

[awesomerwb1]

3. That's insane.

Please, thousands of lawsuits NOW.

Kobach? Just when you think it can't get any more ridiculous and surreal.

[NCjack]

4. Putin instructed Trump to get the list and deliver it to him. nt

[emulatorloo]

5. you may be onto something n/t

[iamateacher]

6. How about no

Because we know what they would do with THAT information!

[Catmusicfan]

7. Is this legal?

[ozone82]

14. Per The OP...

Yes: "Under federal law, each state must maintain a central file of registered voters. States collect different amounts of information on voters. While the files are technically public records, states usually charge fees to individuals or entities who want to access them. Political campaigns and parties typically use these files to compile their massive voter lists."

[Bengus81]

34. Fuck it then. I'll re-register as a Republican.........

Trump and KKKobach can assume I'll be voting for some Republican next time around.

[defacto7]

52. Actually in red states with closed primaries

there's an advantage to registering Repub. You get to vote in their primaries. It gives you a chance to vote for spoilers or against the worst candidate. You vote whatever you want in the general. I've never done it but I've been thinking about it. Here, I've heard some switch back to Dem when it's favorable to do so.
Just sayin.

[freddyvh]

8. in the past

the NRA has freaked out over gun ownership info being released.....

bet they could care less on this.

[Still In Wisconsin]

10. Guns don't kill people, voting does!

Voting is much more dangerous than shooting.

[mountain grammy]

21. You got that right!

[keithbvadu2]

39. NRA already has their own list of gun owners.

[Leghorn21]

9. Party affiliation AND

“any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public.”??

Yeah, we've seen it all now, my friends.

[truthisfreedom]

11. Your voting papers please! SCHNELL!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. The return email address on that request for voter rolls is kremlin.ru. . . . nt

[DesertRat]

13. Call your state level representatives! Here's a script

Find your legislator https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. You really need to contact your state's Secretary of State.

In most cases that will be the person who maintains those records and would make the decision about releasing them,

[MuseRider]

33. He IS my secretary of state!

He probably took the rolls from Kansas to show other states that the "good people of Kansas" trust the Trump administration to handle the information carefully.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. Well, then, everybody else's Secretaries of State.

You have my condolences.

[MuseRider]

42. LOL, it does suck really hard

around here. We are close to a little turn around but I don't see it moving too far. If this does not get Kobach exposed for the total ass that he is he will be seen as someone the national leaders respect and will become our next governor. It takes a long long long time for a party without money, without the interest to take it to the people, without the advisors that really care about fighting hard to make a BIG change. We are working on it, there is a chance, I do feel a little more encouraged but the people as a whole who are out in the lonely middle of nowhere who only have their church to gather in will think that Kobach is a fine choice, after all our dear leader Trump apparently likes him.

[DesertRat]

54. Good idea. Unfortunately, mine is a GOP'er

who was responsible for voting problems during the 2016 election primaries.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. This is officially a Witch Hunt now

The American people and the Congress deserve answers ... what are these shysters up to?

[dalton99a]

16. This is a must read.

[regnaD kciN]

31. What is "this"...?

[ananda]

17. CA has refused.

I'm sure Texas will comply, though.

The Reeps here want the voters purged.

[FBaggins]

18. Not sure about last four of SSN... but the rest of this is very common

Those are all public records that state and local candidates regularly get access to. In NC it's an easy (and free) online search.

[Lucky Luciano]

24. Who you voted for is not public though. Secret ballots are still secret!! nt

[FBaggins]

26. That isn't what they're asking for

No state would have a way to provide that anyway. There is no way to connect individual voters with the votes themselves.

The "voting history" they're looking for is which elections you voted (and, of course, your party registration)... not who you voted for.

[Lucky Luciano]

28. Ok thx for the clarification. Didn't make sense the way I read it. nt

[Lithos]

29. And it also tells you which primary you voted in

Which is a good guess about your party affiliation...

Then again it's already public information. My guess is they are doing this to try and orchestrate a national purge.

L-

[gilligan]

19. No problems

With any kind of voter fraud or problems with voting until Republicans figured they cannot win without disenfranchising people from voting.
Or cheating.

[Lonestarblue]

20. Call and object vociferously!

I just sent the article from the Hill to a local news outlet and asked them to investigate. I gave a bit of background on Kobach's voter suppression efforts, and also mentioned that Kobach is not part of a federal government agency, and he reports only to Trump. As such, there are no government protections for our personal data. I also mentioned that if the data is not protected, hackers will have a field day with identity fraud because they will have birth dates, full addresses, and part of SS numbers.

I also posted the article on my local Indivisible Facebook page and asked members to call our Secretary of State to object to the sharing of this information. I will email and call tomorrow, along with calling my Senators and Representatve to object. Please, join me in sharing this information wherever you can.

Crosscheck is a horrible program that is completely inaccurate. I'm in Texas, and we probavly have dozens of Latinos with the same first and last names. According to Crosscheck, only one of them should be allowed to vote.

[WePurrsevere]

30. Just say NO! Anyone who thinks that Kris Kobach has good intentions...

With this partisan bs 'investigation' needs to either brush up on this POS or is a POS themselves:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the-man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html

He refers to himself as the "ACLUs worst nightmare" but what that really means is that he's our Constitution's worst nightmare. If he has his way the horrible voter suppression that's going on now would look like a child's teddy bear picnic by comparison.

[Bengus81]

32. Keep this KICKED..........nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

36. The Minnesota Secretary of State is skeptical.

He hasn't officially refused yet but news reports indicate he's reluctant to do it. I've emailed my objection and I hope a lot of others do likewise. He's a Democrat.

[Best_man23]

37. K & R

[Gothmog]

38. No one should help Kobach suppress the vote

[keithbvadu2]

40. Would they be ok with giving it to all political parties?

Would they be ok with giving it to all political parties?

The Democrats, the Nazis, Russia, the Libertarians?

Well, if you give it to the Republicans, it's already going to the Nazis and Russia.

Yeah! Yeah! They have a legal right to it?

Should they?

[yallerdawg]

43. The Liar-in-Chief may go down in history...

as the worst "winner" ever.

At least Bush 2.0 had just enough sense to not dwell on HIS second place finish.

[flibbitygiblets]

44. Trump has an Election Integrity Commission? That's f-ing rich. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

45. No one has the right to know voters' party affiliations. Period. Voting History, absolutely not. n/t

[JHB]

46. Well, it's nice to know that Republicans have stopped pretending to be for "small government"...

I'm old enough to remember when they would have jeered at such a Washington directive with fake German and Russian accents.

Then again, these days they don't need to. With the support Trump gets from neo-Nazis and the Roooskies, he hears those pretty much every day. Except they're the only things in his life that aren't fake.

[farmbo]

47. Unless we stop him, this data will all go to Mercer's Cambridge Analitica

... who will share the data with Putins Bot Army for targeting during upcoming elections.
Someone needs to file for an injunction.
And fast.
Put me down for some crowdsourcing $$s.

[Not Ruth]

49. The Russians may already have this data

Maybe we can ask them for it 😁

[turbinetree]

50. What Federal Statute does this jerk have to gain this information, is he exceeding this statute?

https://www.justice.gov/crt/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra


Just taking a glimpse over this it does not say that he has a right to SS numbers, or other information, such as party affiliations tied to the individual

[Doreen]

51. Damn it!! more trash for the recycle bin.

[stopbush]

53. CA & VA already told them to fuck off.

Most other states will follow suit.

[DetlefK]

55. Yeah... That demand violates at least 3 international treaties for human rights and democracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot

International law

The right to hold elections by secret ballot is included in numerous treaties and international agreements that obligate their signatory states:

Article 21.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "The will of the people...shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which...shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures."[21]

Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica) grants to every citizen of member states of the Organization of American States the right and opportunity "to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrange and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters".[22]

Paragraph 7.4 of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, obligates the member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to "ensure that votes are cast by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, and that they are counted and reported honestly with the official results made public."[23]

Article 5 of the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States obligates electoral bodies not to perform "any action violating the principle of voter's secret will expression."[24]

[mr_lebowski]

63. Voting History ! Who Did You Vote for ...

Voting History = What Elections Did You Vote In

No record can be legally kept of who/what a person voted for/against, just that they cast a ballot.

Ergo even if Kobach was asking for that info the States wouldn't have it to give to him.

[Maeve]

56. I thought they already had that--on an unsecured GOP server

That coupd be accessed via a website...

[Historic NY]

57. The RNC already breached voter date for the entire country....

In what is the largest known data exposure of its kind, UpGuard’s Cyber Risk Team can now confirm that a misconfigured database containing the sensitive personal details of over 198 million American voters was left exposed to the internet by a firm working on behalf of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in their efforts to elect Donald Trump. The data, which was stored in a publicly accessible cloud server owned by Republican data firm Deep Root Analytics, included 1.1 terabytes of entirely unsecured personal information compiled by DRA and at least two other Republican contractors, TargetPoint Consulting, Inc. and Data Trust. In total, the personal information of potentially near all of America’s 200 million registered voters was exposed, including names, dates of birth, home
addresses, phone numbers, and voter registration details, as well as data described as “modeled” voter ethnicities and religions.

https://www.upguard.com/breaches/the-rnc-files

[Paula Sims]

59. That's the same information my BFF, the Nigerian Prince wants

And I'll tell them the same thing... FU!!!

[KRISITNA]

61. They want this info for micro targeting, period. This should scare the shit out of every AMERICAN

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-jared-kushner-ran-trump-campaign-2016-11

[Nitram]

62. Virginia's Governor McCauliffe just refused to provide the data, citing the fact that

there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in the state.