Democrats Spooked by Drop in Colorado Voter Registration Amid Trump Probe

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/15/democrats-spooked-by-drop-in-colorado-voter-registration-amid-trump-probe-into-voter-fraud/

Into voter fraud..... guess he wasn't wrong

Quote:Democrats Spooked by Drop in Colorado Voter Registration Amid Trump Probe Into Voter Fraud

Adam Shaw15 Jul 2017

AP/David Goldman

852

Democrats are apparently spooked by a sudden drop in voter registrations in the key swing state of Colorado, with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez arguing that it is connected to President Trump’s investigation into electoral fraud in the 2016 election — and promising to fight back against it.

According to the Denver Post, approximately 3,400 Colorado voters canceled their registrations after the Trump administration sought voter info from the states. The Post notes that the number is hardly enormous, representing only 0.09 percent of the state’s 3.7 million voters.

Coggin Honda of Ft. Pierce


Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has asked states to hand over data from their voter rolls, reportedly including felony convictions, military status, and voter history. The move has seen pushback from a number of liberal states such as California, New York, Virginia, and Connecticut, as well as some red states such as Oklahoma and Kentucky.

Officials told the Post that while one reason given by those withdrawing was a lack of trust in Trump’s commission, another was that they didn’t realize how much of their information was public under state law.

However, even though that would suggest the withdrawals coincide with reporting about the commission rather than being directly caused by the commission, it hasn’t stopped the Democrats from hitting the panic button.

McClatchy reports that the Democratic National Committee and the Colorado Democratic Party have launched an effort to persuade Democrats to stay on the voter rolls.

“If you unregister, you are giving a victory to proponents of voter suppression,” Perez said in an interview with the outlet Friday, adding that they see this as the party’s new rally crying.

“That’s our message,” Perez said. “And we’re out there delivering that message in every way possible.”

The red alert appears not to have filtered down to all Democratic officials, with others telling the outlet that they have not seen widespread examples of voters withdrawing their registrations in other states.

Democrats have frequently jumped on any effort to crack down on possible illegal voting, or to clean up the voter rolls, and cried “voter suppression” even when such cries are baseless. Failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in May blamed voter suppression, particularly in Wisconsin, as part of her laundry list of reasons she lost the election.

But Perez told McClatchy that they weren’t looking to panic voters, only that they are “concerned.”

“What we’re seeing in Colorado, we hope that doesn’t spread elsewhere,” said one DNC official. “That’s why we’re working on educating voters across the country about this. We’re not trying to incite panic, but the DNC itself is monitoring this situation and is concerned by what we’re seeing.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he believes he would have won the popular vote if illegal votes were discounted. Democrats and left-leaning media outlets have accused Trump of making the claim without evidence — but are now opposing his administration’s investigation.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, told Breitbart News Daily this week that the amount of opposition to the probe is “extraordinary.”

“It’s truly extraordinary that they are trying to stop the commission from even beginning. These lawsuits are intended to stop the gathering of data and stop the meeting of the commission. It does make you think that some people out there don’t want us to see what amount of voter fraud there is,” said Kobach.

He also discussed reports of people withdrawing from the voter rolls and posited a number of reasons why that could be.

“It could be, actually, people who are not qualified to vote, perhaps someone who is a felon and is disqualified that way, or someone who is not a U.S. citizen saying, ‘I’m withdrawing my voter registration because I am not able to vote.’ It could be a political stunt – people who are trying to discredit the Commission and withdrawing temporarily because they are politically active but planning to get back on the voter rolls before the election next November,” he said.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY

[Dill]

And it could be that people don't want the government getting their personal information--the reason given for non-cooperation by Republican governors who have refused to cooperate.

[Vlad]

(07-16-2017, 03:24 PM)Dill Wrote: And it could be that people don't want the government getting their personal information--the reason given for non-cooperation by Republican governors who have refused to cooperate.

Oh really?
The IRS is part of the government too.

In addition to your your SSN they know how much money you make, your investments, where you bank, where you work, whether you're married or not, how many kids you have, your favorite charity, where you eat.....

[GMDino]

I really don't see why anyone would be worried about this administration having their personal information.  

http://www.sltrib.com/home/5510420-155/white-house-releases-emails-with-voters

Quote:White House releases emails with voters’ personal information

The Trump White House on Thursday made public a trove of emails it received from voters offering comment on its Election Integrity Commission. The commission drew widespread criticism when it emerged into public view by asking for personal information, including addresses, partial social security numbers, and party affiliation, on every voter in the country.

It further outraged voters by planning to post that information publicly.



Voters directed that outrage toward the Trump White House and the voter commission, often using profanity-laced language in the emails released this week, 112 pages of them.

"You will open up the entire voting population to a massive amount of fraud if this data is in any way released," wrote one voter.

"Many people will get their identity stolen, which will harm the economy," wrote another.


"I respectfully request, as an American-born citizen legally eligible to vote for two decades, that you leave my voter data and history alone, do not publish it, and do nothing with it," said another.

Unfortunately for these voters and others who wrote in, the Trump administration did not redact any of their personal information from the emails before releasing them to the public. In some cases, the emails contain not only names, but email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and places of employment of people worried about such information being made available to the public.

The Washington Post is not publishing any of this information, because it does not appear that the individuals were aware their comments would be shared by the White House. The emails were sent to the address that the administration asked Secretaries of State to send data files to.

"This request is very concerning," wrote one. "The federal government is attempting to get the name, address, birth date, political party, and social security number of every voter in the country." That email, published by the White House, contained the sender's name and home address.

"DO NOT RELEASE ANY OF MY VOTER DATA PERIOD," wrote one voter whose name and email address was published by the White House.

"Beefed up the security on this email address yet?" asked another voter whose name and email address were also published by the White House.

"The request for private voter information is offensive," wrote one voter whose name, home address and email address were published by the White House.

"I removed my name from voter rolls. And I'm a Republican!" wrote one voter whose name was published by the White House.

Federal agencies often solicit and release public comments on proposed legislation. Regulations.gov, the federal government's clearing house for public comments, includes a detailed set of guidelines explaining how to submit comments, what type of personal information is collected, and how that information may be used.

"Some agencies may require that you include personal information, such as your name and email address, on the comment form," the website explains. The Securities and Exchange Commission, for instance warns commenters to "submit only information that you wish to make available publicly."

Similarly, the FTC tells commenters that "published comments include the commenter's last name and state/country as well as the entire text of the comment. Please do not include any sensitive or confidential information."

The White House does not appear to have issued any such public guidelines or warnings prior to releasing the emails, all of which appear to have been sent to the Election Integrity Commissions' email address as listed in a letter sent to U.S. Secretaries of State.

A spokesman for Vice President Mike Pence who previously responded to inquires about the voter commission did not immediately return a request for comment.

While the letter invited secretaries of state to send comments and voter data via that email address, the White House now says that "any member of the public wishing to submit written comments for the Commission's consideration may do so via email" at that address, ElectionIntegrityStaffovp.eop.gov. It warns that "the Commission may post such written comments publicly on our website, including names and contact information that are submitted."

The page that warning is contained on was published on July 13. The emails published by the White House were written between June 29 and July 11.

[GMDino]

Quote:Kobach Email Confirms Trump Administration’s Goal to Gut Vital Voting Rights Law



Donald Trump and Kris Kobach, who is holding a document that reveals his desire to amend the National Voter Registration Act.

Getty Images

The Trump administration’s voter fraud commission is poised to attack a federal voting rights law that prevents states from capriciously disenfranchising citizens.


That law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as “motor voter,” has long been a bête noire of conservatives. The NVRA creates national voter registration requirements and procedures that states may not abrogate or abridge, barring them from arbitrarily purging voters from the rolls. Federal courts have also interpreted the statute to prevent states from imposing a proof of citizenship on new voters. When Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach attempted to implement such a requirement in 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued to block him, citing the NVRA. At Kobach’s meeting with Donald Trump in November, he was photographed holding a memo indicating his desire to amend the law.

The ACLU swiftly demanded access to this memo, alleging it was relevant to the ongoing litigation regarding Kansas’ proof of citizenship law. Kobach refused, but a court compelled him to cough up the document. A federal judge also fined him $1,000 for making “patently misleading representations” about the memo and engaging in “deceptive conduct.” Before turning over the document, Kobach marked it “confidential,” barring the ACLU from furnishing it to the public. However, as part of discovery, Kobach did release an email sent to the Trump transition team on Nov. 9—the day after Election Day—setting the NVRA in his crosshairs. Kobach wrote:

Quote:[W]e will … be putting together information on legislation drafts for submission to Congress early in the administration. I have some already started regarding amendments to the NVRA to make clear that proof of citizenship requirements are permitted (based on my ongoing litigation with the ACLU over this).

Several months later, Trump appointed Kobach to lead what the president has characterized as his “VOTER FRAUD PANEL.”
Kobach’s email seems to confirm speculation about the true intent of the voter fraud commission, and the reason why he has requested an immense amount of voter data from all 50 states. Kobach will collect a vast amount of incomplete voter data from the states and use shoddy analysis to claim he has discovered thousands of fraudulent votes. He will then insist that Congress must address the problem by gutting the NVRA to let states demand proof of citizenship from voters, and to authorize mass purges of state voter rolls. (The Justice Department is already laying the groundwork for these voter purges.)

Indeed, Kobach has already executed a test run of this plan. As Kansas secretary of state, he promoted the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, known as Crosscheck, which can purportedly detect double-voting by comparing voter databases from multiple states. Crosscheck creates thousands of false positives—about 200 for every one true instance of double-voting, according to one study. Yet Kobach has championed Crosscheck as a vital tool to thwart voter fraud—which he has claimed, falsely, to be a rampant problem in the United States.

Trump’s voter fraud commission is shaping up to be, as the ACLU’s Dale Ho described it, “Crosscheck on steroids.” The only question that remains is whether congressional Republicans will pretend to believe Kobach’s “patently misleading representations,” to borrow a court’s term. If they do, the NVRA—one of the most critical voting rights laws ever passed in the United States—may be in grave peril.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/07/18/kobach_email_confirms_goal_of_voter_fraud_commission_to_gut_nvra.html