Kobach Commission makes a big oops
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The President’s Election Integrity Commission didn’t know that Illinois has a State Board of Elections…
Add Illinois to the list of states that are balking at turning over massive amounts of voter data that normally is kept private to a commission chaired by Vice President Mike Pence.
In an interview, Ken Menzel, general counsel to the Illinois State Board of Elections, said the board this morning finally received a written request from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The commission says it’s trying to prevent voter fraud; Democrats say it is attempting to drive down voter turnout among progressive voters.
The request mistakenly was sent to Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office passed it on to the board.
Menzel said the matter will be researched and referred to the board for possible action. But the board doesn’t meet until Aug. 22, Menzel added, so nothing is going to be happening soon. And it’s clear that at least some requested data will not be going to the feds.
As I’ve already explained (click here) Illinois has strict rules about what the board of elections can and cannot divulge.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:11 pm:
They did this to every state; just sent it to the SoS, thinking that was the chief elections officer.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:11 pm:
That instills great confidence in their abilities. This commission is a farce anyway. They already have their conclusion and are looking for evidence to back up their conclusion.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:14 pm:
Wait, are you telling me the Trump administration went forward with a half-baked idea? There’s a first time for everything I guess.
- Bending the message - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
I think looking at illegal election tampering is a good idea. Maybe the legislature can look at what ISBE is doing to prevent future Russia hacks.
- Rogue Roni - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:20 pm:
So glad we’ve sold the nations problems and can spend the the time, money, and energy on this
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:30 pm:
I’ve read (huffington post?) where they are asking for very sensitive data including SSNs. Uh, no.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:37 pm:
Given how often Trump steps on it, the small-hands theory is not operative.
- Montrose - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:49 pm:
Is Kobach actually pretending he would have given this type of data over to the Obama administration when he was in Kansas?
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:54 pm:
Keystone Cops
- RIJ - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 12:59 pm:
Trump has finally united all of us! Even conservatives balk at this.
- DeseDemDose - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 1:00 pm:
Trump, Pence, Rauner…. Ugh.
- FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 1:02 pm:
Two edged sword in this. One group believes there is massive fraud, the other feels it is minimal. The only way either camp can be proved correct and wrong is to actually look into it and in a non political way, as if that were possible.
Personally I don’t care who is right, I only care about the integrity of the process. And yes that includes the looking at what the Russians did. I am concerned that they have improved their tactics and what to see how we can counter those tactics.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 1:14 pm:
==Is Kobach actually pretending he would have given this type of data over to the Obama administration when he was in Kansas?==
Hell, he said he can’t even turn all that data over to *himself*!
- Justin - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 1:16 pm:
I’m glad that the Illinois State Board of Elections didn’t cave in to the fraudulent Kobach/Pence commission.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 1:33 pm:
Demoralized hit the nail squarely on the head. Poor staffing, flawed and politically motivated purpose and biased membership shows this is an abuse of taxpayer money.
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 2:16 pm:
There was a right way and a wrong way to deal with voter fraud and election tampering. Guess which one the Trump Administration chose?
We need to fight this with every fiber of our being - already 40+ states have said no or mostly no. Even Kobach’s own state said no to providing SS#s.
- ILGOV2018 - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 2:40 pm:
Widespread election fraud does not happen. This is POTUS trying to convince the people he had this great big mandate when he was not chosen by the majority of the voters. He won the outdated Electoral College.
- cdog - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 4:14 pm:
I look forward to there someday being a reconciliation of all election databases.
There should be an effort to identify people registered in multiple states, people that are listed on the Death Master File at SSA, people that are not legal citizens.
Does anyone think all those exception groups should be allowed to remain as eligible voters?
The Feds audit all kinds of stuff. It’s part of the game, folks, and if you’re doing it right there should be no concerns.
- cdog - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 4:21 pm:
Even better than the audit, a 21st Century Voting Act that would nip all these issues and also set standards for voting equipment, etc.
Maybe the potential ConCon should address this too?
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 4:41 pm:
cdog:
Elections are the purview of states. And not one state to date has found any evidence of widespread voter fraud. Should the lists be cleaned up? Absolutely. But we don’t need a federal commission to examine state voter rolls to do it, especially a commission who’s sole goal is to provide that there is widespread voter fraud.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 4:42 pm:
is to “prove” not provide
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 5:29 pm:
If Trump and his vote suppression gang want my SSN and voting record, they can just ask Putin.
- IndivisibleIL1 - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 5:42 pm:
Let’s be real clear about this request. This is the beginning of the federal government, controlled entirely by the republican party, working to initiate a national voter suppression effort. If their ideas are so roundly rejected by the actual majority of Americans, the next step to solidify power, is to reduce the number of voting opponents. This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook and every single person in this state needs to rise up in opposition to this request. There are those that will say, “we’ll give them general information so long as they give us assurances that they won’t make it public.” The problem with that idea is that this administration has a strong disregard for assurances and agreements. They will make a promise with one hand and flip you off with the other. We must stand united on this issue and urge the Illinois Board of Elections to resoundingly reject it.
- cdog - Wednesday, Jul 5, 17 @ 5:58 pm:
This is not voter suppression. If you can legally register, you can vote. No one is suppressing anyone.
Many in this country support these ideas, contrary to what you might be being told. I see nothing authoritarian about ensuring laws are followed. No “rise up” needed.
BTW, your information is already being sold, so to think this is tipping point, and needing a call to action, it’s not.