From The Maddow Blog:
Trump’s voting commission makes an alarming request for data
06/30/17 08:40 AM—Updated 06/30/17 08:57 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump likes to believe in a problem that doesn’t exist: the imagined scourge of voter fraud. After the election, the president repeatedly argued that “millions” of illegal votes were cast, in part because Trump was embarrassed his rival received millions more votes than he did, and in part to help lay the groundwork for a broader voter-suppression campaign.
To that end, the White House created a “commission” in May to investigate voter fraud – a problem that only exists in any meaningful sense in the imaginations of far-right policymakers and their allies – and Trump tapped Kansas’ Kris Kobach, a voter-suppression pioneer, to help lead the ridiculous exercise.
The initiative lacked any sense of subtlety: the point, as the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent explained at the time, was to use the commission as a tool to rig the electoral process and help Republicans win more races. Slate described Kobach’s role in the endeavor as “terrifying.”
That was not hyperbolic. The Washington Post reported yesterday on the dubious commission, determined to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, requesting data it isn’t entitled to.
The chair of President Trump’s Election Integrity Commission has penned a letter to all 50 states requesting their full voter-roll 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.”
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Let’s also note for context that it was just last week that Kobach was fined by a federal judge for “patently misleading representations” and “deceptive conduct” he made to the court. He’s the guy Donald Trump wants to lead a federal commission on voting integrity.
Here is the video from Friday’s Maddow Show About this topic:
Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about why Donald Trump’s history and the people he is putting on his voter fraud commission point to a goal of suppressing voter participation.
CALL YOUR SECRETARY OF STATE AND DEMAND THAT THEY ADD YOUR STATE TO THE LIST OF STATES REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH THE VOTER SUPPRESSION COMMISSION.
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/883011624516419584
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/882060140433743872
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/882057695427260420
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Phil MattinglyVerified account @Phil_Mattingly
Still think the most interesting development of the wknd was WH leg affairs chief Marc Short appearing to endorse the Cruz regs proposal…
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Adam Khan @Khanoisseur
May want to highlight Marc Short is Koch dark money operative–crucial for public to understand Koch influence on GOP bill
Kyle Griffin
✔
@kylegriffin1
Lawyer who’s defended companies against discrimination suits is Trump’s pick to lead the DOJ Civil Rights Division: http://bit.ly/2txZvEy
10:55 AM – 3 Jul 2017
Their goal is decimation.
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/881945763319885824
https://twitter.com/sharonanne09/status/881954059619586048
WTF is going on? This ISH is Nationwide. It’s been exhausting.
https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/status/881971354186264576
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/881954209469476868
Tyler Kissinger @tylerbkissinger
Replying to @tylerbkissinger @JasonGrotto
IL kicks in the lowest percentage of K-12 funding in the nation, and what it does pay favors wealthy districts:
I saw this. I agree with him
I posted this because of the stand your ground ruling. Other than that I hate posting anything about this mofo here.
https://twitter.com/thinkprogress/status/881902548248035332
Good.
good that law was nothing more than a license to kill black people.
It didn’t apply to black folks invoking SYG.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/881870436157575168
https://twitter.com/tylerbkissinger/status/881697248215695361
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/881710010740469761
LMBAO Yes, Buzz, we’re totally FEELING YOU!
love the gif
Here the actual scene:
POWERFUL TRUTH. Can’t DENY HISTORY, FOLKS!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/881911506522263552
Wow. SG2. Love it.
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/881885519940116480
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/881881432716701696
Since I am off from work today , I took Peanut to Summer Camp today.😄
Sweet Auntie love.
AWE
So dear.
Now that sounds like a fun day.
https://twitter.com/votevets/status/881596845788737536
https://twitter.com/NBCBLK/status/881876353838198784
I love this photo from the article linked in the tweet you posted here:
https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_24/2035986/thomas_jefferson_7_4c9de2d016608668918c274778cbb521.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg
“Descendants of Monticello’s enslaved families in the Kitchen Yard, above Mulberry Row in 2016.Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello”
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/881868436783149057
Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐
First thing on my to do list tomorrow.