By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
A federal commission’s request for the voting history and personal information of Kentucky’s 3.2 million voters was vehemently denied by the state’s top election official.
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said she received the request from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity for the name, address, last four digits of the social security number, birth date, political affiliation and voting history of every Kentucky voter going back to 2006.
“As the commonwealth’s secretary of state and chief election officer, I do not intend to release Kentuckians’ sensitive personal data to the federal government,” said Grimes.
Kentucky and secretaries of state nationwide were notified on Thursday.
“The President created his election commission based on the false notion that ‘voter fraud’ is a widespread issue, it is not,” the Democratic secretary said. “Indeed, despite bipartisan objections and a lack of authority, the President has repeatedly spread the lie that three to five million illegal votes were cast in the last election.”
Grimes concluded saying, “Kentucky will not aid a commission that is at best a waste of taxpayer money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression efforts across the country.”
Other states also are bucking the request, including California. Democratic Secretary of State Alex Padilla said he will “not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgement that millions of Californians voted illegally.”
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, vice-chairman of the commission, told the Kansas City Star that his state will provide voter information.
Kobach said the personal data would be hosted on a secure server run by the federal government and not disclosed to the public. He also said the request for the last four digits of social security numbers was meant “to prevent false positives,” for situations like when two people have the same name and birthdate.
In the letter from the commission, a copy of which was obtained by Kentucky Today, vice chairman Kobach asks state secretaries to contribute views and recommendations on such topics as:
• What changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
• How can the commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
• What laws, policies, or other issues hinder your ability to ensure the integrity of elections you administer?
• What evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or registration fraud in your state?
• What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in your state since the November 2000 federal election?
• What recommendations do you have for preventing voter intimidation or disenfranchisement?
• What other issues do you believe the commission should consider?
The letter contains a link to a secure file transfer protocol site, but adds that users should be aware that any documents submitted to the federal commission will also be made available to the public.
State secretaries have until July 14 to respond.
Good for her!
Excellent, good and appropriate move to a ridiculous request.
Excellent! The Trump-Kobach Commission is an effort to suppress votes and is anti-democratic. Trump made clear when he ran for president that he wants to be a strongman or dictator. Officials like Grimes need to stand strong to preserve our democracy.
She’s obviously still not over her loss to Mitch or Clinton’s loss to Trump.