Four Actions to Fight Trump’s Sham Voter Fraud Commission in Your State

Screen_Shot_2017-08-04_at_2.59.46_PM.png There is vast consensus that Trump’s commission on voter fraud is a fraud all its own, created entirely out of Trump’s inferiority complex after soundly losing the popular vote, and to add a whole new federal level to voter suppression tactics.

Seven federal lawsuits have been filed against the commission by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU and Public Citizen, and others. These lawsuits allege lack of transparency, Privacy Act violations, and racial discrimination by the commission and its efforts. And though some states are partially complying with the commission’s request for voter information by giving the public record data only, many states say that they will not comply at all.

If it can get it’s hands on the voter data, the commission has said it wants to run it through the now notorious Interstate Crosscheck System. If you’ve never heard of it, this system was led by commission chairman Kris Kobach in home state of Kansas and has been adopted by other voter-fraud fearing states. The system compares state databases and finds duplicate voters based on first name, last name and birthdate and suggests states then scrub those duplicates from the rolls. But in a country of 139 million voters, there are bound to be people with the same names and birthdays and three states have already abandoned using Crosscheck due to “accuracy issues.” That’s putting it lightly. A statistical analysis of the program conducted by Stanford, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Microsoft found the system eliminates about 200 legitimate voters for every one that cast a double vote. In other words, it’s wrong 99 percent of the time.

Despite all this, the voter fraud commission is already succeeding in suppressing the vote. When Colorado said it would mostly comply with the commission’s data request, more than 5,300 people de-registered.

So, here is four step plan to get your state to resist Trump’s sham commission...

First, find out if your state is complying and if so, to what extent. Don’t assume that because you live in a blue state that your state is not still planning to hand over their public voter rolls.

Second, find your local voting rights organization. Beyond the federal lawsuits, this battle is being fought on the state level which is why we don’t have just one place to send you for this action. Start getting involved and volunteering with local chapters of organizations like Let America Vote, League of Women Voters, Voto Latino, Democracy Awakening/Democracy Spring, and more.

Third, find out how to contact your state board of elections then call and write to them to tell them you do not want your state to comply with a sham commission created to excuse and promote voter suppression. We have included the link to a solid, adaptable call script from an Illinois local action group called Action for a Better Tomorrow in the show notes. Also, if the board of elections has a social media page, start commenting and share it with your networks to engage your community.

And finally, contact your governor via every available channel and tell them exactly how you feel. Tell them your vote depends on how they protect voters in the face of the Trump administration’s lying and bullying.

By the way, Kris Kobach is running for governor of Kansas in 2018. Throwing a few bucks at his opponent when the time comes would be a nice favor to the people of Kansas.

So, if defending democracy and fighting voter suppression is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about these Four Actions to Fight Trump’s Sham Voter Fraud Commission in Your State via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too.

#VoterFraud is a myth used by the GOP to justify #VoterSuppression. Know the difference. #Resist voter ID laws, #crosscheck, & voter purges.
— Democracy Spring (@DemSpring) August 3, 2017

The goal of this request is same as the first: have less people voting. We can't let any election official comply with this sham commission. https://t.co/3r5DTZfk6q
— Democracy Awakening (@DemAwakening) July 27, 2017

We're not allowed in the voter suppression commission meeting. Now we're being removed from Lafayette Square Park. #RespectMyVote pic.twitter.com/Wbvxx36gSN
— Civil Rights (@civilrightsorg) July 19, 2017

TAKE ACTION

1. Find out if your state is complying with Trump’s Voter Commission and to what extent (Brennan Center has compiled state responses here)

2. Get involved/volunteer with local chapters of voting rights orgs like Let America Vote, League of Women Voters, Voto Latino, Democracy Awakening/Democracy Spring

3. Contact your state’s Board of Elections office. Quickly find it with this database. Here's a call script that you can adapt for your state.

4. Contact your state’s governor. Quickly find them with this database.

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Trump's "Voter Fraud" Commission (Brennan Center for Justice)

The Bogus Voter-Fraud Commission (New York Times)

More than 3,000 Colorado voters have canceled their registrations since Trump election integrity commission request (Denver Post)

5,300+ Colorado voters withdraw registration as state prepares to send info. to Trump commission (The Denver Channel)

Trump’s voter commission is now facing at least 7 federal lawsuits (Washington Post)

The Gravest Dangers of Trump's Voter Fraud Commission (Time)