Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez blasted the Trump administration’s voter fraud panel on Wednesday, calling the group a “propaganda factory” for voter suppression efforts.
Perez mentioned in a Time magazine op-ed a handful of verified voter fraud incidents, asking whether they justified spending taxpayer funds on a presidential commission.
“You’re more likely to see someone fatally struck by lightning than witness a case of in-person voter fraud,” Perez wrote.
President Trump appointed the voter fraud panel after claiming that millions of noncitizens voted in the 2016 election.
{mosads}Fact-checking website PolitiFact has found a number of Trump’s claims of voter fraud during the election to be false.
Perez argued the panel’s true purpose is not to investigate voter fraud, but to suppress minority voters in order to benefit GOP candidates.
“This isn’t a war on voter fraud. It’s a war on voters — and it’s only being waged by Republicans,” Perez wrote.
The panel, led by Vice President Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), will hold its first meeting Wednesday in Washington.
It’s already been the source of controversy, as 44 states denied to comply with the panel’s request to share its voter rolls, which themselves contain voters’ private information.
And the appointment of Kobach angered many Latino groups. Kobach is known as the legal engineer behind many restrictive state immigration laws, including Arizona’s SB-1070.
Perez said Democrats would fight the panel’s alleged voter suppression tactics in the courts and through the DNC’s Civic Engagement and Voter Participation Department and Voting Rights Institute.
“As Republicans try to trample on our most sacred freedoms, Democrats will do everything we can to end discrimination and protect the one right that preserves all others — the right to vote,” Perez maintained.