Dem asks Pence to stop voter fraud commission’s request for sensitive data

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) is calling on Vice President Pence to quash the presidential voter fraud commission’s request for sensitive voter information.

By asking secretaries of state to provide voter data, such as the last four digits of voters’ social security numbers, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity risks illegally purging voter rolls, undermining voters’ privacy and violating federal laws, Connolly wrote in a letter to Pence on Tuesday.

“This extensive order risks compromising the privacy of millions of Americans’ personal information, potentially violates several federal statutes, paves the way for illegal purging of voter rolls, and is based on false claims made by President Trump and members of his administration,” Connolly wrote.

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The commission, which is headed by Pence, asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia late last month to provide extensive information on voters in their state. 

But dozens of state officials have pushed back on the commission’s request. Some have said that state laws bar them from providing certain pieces of information, like driver’s license numbers and social security numbers, and that turning over such data puts voters’s private information at risk. 

Others have accused the commission of being a tool to suppress votes.

“The Commission’s attempt to create a massive database of sensitive information is a thinly veiled effort to carry out voter suppression on a national scale,” Connolly wrote in his letter to Pence. “States should not comply.”

The commission was created to investigate Trump’s widely debunked claim that millions of illegal voters cost him the popular vote in November. Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular count by nearly 3 million ballots.