The sky is falling! President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity is looking for ways to better protect the ballot box against voter fraud undermining the integrity of U.S. elections.
One would figure that the Democrats would welcome such a move. After all, CNN uses 93 percent of its airtime to talk about the Russia narrative. An impartial look at the circumstances around each part of the election is something both sides normally would agree upon.
However, the manic left threw that one out the window. Looking into registration forms and voter ID is the new “dog whistle” of racism.
The commission’s first action was to ask all 50 states to send in voter registration records — including names, dates of birth, and voting history — in order to study the extent of voter fraud. A number of states have refused to comply.
How could states hold onto such information? Well, they can’t. The Trump administration only requested information that is “publicly available under the laws of your state.” In the case of the last four digits of social security numbers, the commission only requested that information if it is public record in any particular state. States can of course send in all the other information to the commission but withhold partial social security numbers if they are not public record.
{mosads}That’s not what the headlines say, though. There is full-on panic from the same people that say voter fraud never happens. To a CNN contributor, it’s a “sham.” To the New York Times editorial board, it’s “fraudulent.” Left-of-center voters were so offended by the commission, that they bombarded its office with porn. The open meetings are operating “in the dark,” says the ACLU. It will “suppress” the vote. It’s Trump’s “biggest lie.”
None of these points address the stated goal of the commission. The media derided President Trump’s assertions that millions of illegals voted in the 2016 election. But his claims may be true. Millions of non-citizens voted in 2008 according to some studies — and overwhelmingly for Democrats. This number likely handed over Minnesota’s Senate seat to Al Franken and gave Democrats a 60 vote, filibuster-proof majority.
Will Trump’s commission have a “chilling effect” on the number of votes cast? Likely not. If past history is any indication, there will be a combination of effects. First, the number of illegal immigrants casting ballots will fall substantially. Secondly, more voters will turn out for a system they feel isn’t rigged against them; remember, candidate Trump turned out so-called “low propensity” voters just waiting for a person on the ballot that spoke to them, not over them.
As mentioned earlier, the information the administration wants is out there already. In fact, many campaigns and states regularly sell this same voter information to campaigns, candidates, and political strategists for a hefty profit. The information available to the highest bidder is almost word-for-word the same as that requested from the Commission Chair Kris Kobach. Personally-identifiable data was not requested and much of the information is held by local polling canvassers or county clerk’s offices.
So what’s at stake here? 24 million, or about 13 percent of all voter registrations are incorrect nationwide. Nearly 3 million people are registered to vote in two states. Close to 2 million registered voters are deceased. A Virginia student recently registered 18 dead people — and that follows a report that 5,500 non-citizens were discovered on the state’s voter rolls.
Using publicly-available voter roll information, the commission could cross-check voter registration rolls with a list of known illegal immigrants and other non-citizens. It’s a legal, transparent, and practical step — yet the Obama administration infamously declined to support this. For all of the talk on the left about how voter fraud isn’t real, perhaps it is because only one side actually enforces the law.
Research showed that about 18,000 noncitizens in Kansas — Kobach’s home state — were either on voter rolls or attempted to register to vote and up to 2.6 percent of the state’s population is undocumented. Illegal immigrants make up nearly 6 percent of California’s population. Some back of the envelope math means that there could be more than a million illegal voters in the state alone. Meanwhile, California somehow recorded a 75.2 percent turnout last year, way above the 58 percent national average.
State after state after state went well out of their way to deny their voter info to the feds. In the words of President Trump, “What do they think the commission will find?”
Why would anyone be against such measures? Many of the same politicians seem to think little of the integrity of the democratic process. It is not a cudgel or bully pulpit. The vote is the people’s will and most sacred right. Citizenship is a federal issue, not a caveat for states to politically posture.
But I guess it’s less fun that way.
Kristin Tate is a conservative columnist and author of the book “Government Gone Wild: How D.C. Politicians Are Taking You For a Ride And What You Can Do About It.” She was recently named one of NewsMax’s “30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30.”
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.