To: State Elections Officials
Don't Assist the Trump-Kobach Voter Suppression Commission
As our state's elections official, we demand you fully reject Kris Kobach's bogus request for our voter rolls. The Trump-Kobach "Commission on Election Integrity" has been designed to suppress the vote. This request is both a national security threat and a clear pretext to nationalizing Kobach's Crosscheck program, which has been repeatedly used in voter purges disenfranchising longtime voters.
Why is this important?
Donald Trump created the"Commission on Election Integrity" to legitimize his lies about voter fraud, and to advance Republican efforts to suppress the votes of people of color, young people and others. Trump named Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the leader in the national vote suppression effort, to serve as vice chair, alongside Vice President Mike Pence.
Now Kobach has asked states to submit personal information on every voter to his commission. There’s every reason to suspect that Kobach aims to nationalize his “Crosscheck” program, which has been used in several states to disqualify large numbers of eligible voters on pretextual grounds. Hacking of the data also poses a massive privacy risk and, according to Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security in the Bush administration, a national security risk, as well.
While some states have already stood up to Trump’s sham commission, many have agreed to partially comply. We need each and every state to reject this unprecedented request entirely.
Now Kobach has asked states to submit personal information on every voter to his commission. There’s every reason to suspect that Kobach aims to nationalize his “Crosscheck” program, which has been used in several states to disqualify large numbers of eligible voters on pretextual grounds. Hacking of the data also poses a massive privacy risk and, according to Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security in the Bush administration, a national security risk, as well.
While some states have already stood up to Trump’s sham commission, many have agreed to partially comply. We need each and every state to reject this unprecedented request entirely.