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* Press release…
The following is a statement from Just Democracy Illinois, a nonpartisan voting rights coalition, on President Trump’s decision to disband the Presidential Advisory Commission on Voter Integrity:
“Just Democracy Illinois is pleased to see this presidentially-sanctioned witch hunt come to an end. This commission was flawed from the start. It was premised on a baseless claim that ‘millions’ of people illegally voted in the November 2016 election. It sought to obtain sensitive personal information about Illinois voters and threatened to expose that data to numerous privacy and security risks. Just Democracy will remain vigilant as federal officials and advisors continue to threaten the rights of our communities, including immigrant citizens, and other eligible voters.
“When the Commission issued overly broad demands for personal data of voters in 2017, Just Democracy Illinois immediately urged the Illinois State Board of Elections to deny the intrusive requests and debunk harmful myths of widespread voter fraud. After evaluating the requests and analyzing the facts, the bipartisan State Board denied the Commission’s requests and concluded the following about voter fraud: ‘The suspected instances we found equate to a fraud level of a couple thousandths of a single percent of the votes cast in the state.’
“As a nation, we still have a lot of work to do to protect our democracy and secure access to the ballot box. Across the country, states are passing laws that create unnecessary barriers to the ballot, which have negatively impacted turnout and intimidated voters from exercising their constitutional rights. Some of these policies intentionally disenfranchise communities through acts like purging eligible citizens from the voter rolls, while other states are stubbornly maintaining outdated registration systems that must be modernized.
“Just Democracy Illinois is proud that Illinois is taking the opposite approach and improving fairness of our elections. In recent years, the Land of Lincoln has passed laws to expand early voting, and to allow voters to register online or even at the polls. In August, Illinois unanimously passed a bipartisan Automatic Voter Registration law, which, once implemented, could add more than one million eligible Illinoisans to the voter rolls.
“To keep our election systems secure, prevent potential fraud and mis-registration, and reduce the barriers that decrease voter turnout, Just Democracy Illinois encourages states to instead follow Illinois’ bipartisan leadership on voting rights by passing legislation like Automatic Voter Registration.”
Just Democracy Illinois is led by a steering committee that includes Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, CHANGE Illinois, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Chicago Votes, Common Cause Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and Illinois PIRG.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
IL Attorney General Candidate Sen. Kwame Raoul issued the following statement regarding President Trump’s order to disband his voter fraud commission:
Now that Donald Trump has decided to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Bruce Rauner and his handpicked appointees need to stop wasting Illinois taxpayer dollars on Crosscheck.
Illinois has some of the strongest voter protections in the country thanks to the work of Sen. Raoul. Raoul was a leader in the passage of the Illinois Voting Rights Act as well as a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of all voters from having their voice and their rights taken away by discriminatory requirements.
Raoul has introduced legislation (Senate Bill 2273) to end the state’s use of Crosscheck, which was pioneered by Trump Appointee and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Senator Raoul has made his opposition to the flawed system clear while citing data security issues and potential racial bias.
Yesterday, Raoul and 13 other legislators submitted a letter to the State Board of Elections on Crosscheck which can be found here: https://twitter.com/endcrosscheck/status/948702111101005824
* Related…
* Trump dissolves controversial voter fraud commission, says states fought information requests
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 10:05 am
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In statements about the dissolution, the comment was made once again that there is substantial evidence of widespread voter fraud. What evidence would that be? Secret evidence?
The Commission was a joke from the start. They were starting with a conclusion and then look for evidence to back up that conclusion.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 10:12 am
The millions of undocumented aliens who voted for Clinton are breathing much easier. /s
Comment by a drop in Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 10:12 am
oh, the witch hunt….in several areas…continues. just not with this commission.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 10:33 am
At least Kris Kobach didn’t go gentle into that good night. Didn’t they find some overeager Trump voter who wanted to vote for him in as many states as possible?
Comment by PJ Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 10:40 am
Sort of ridiculous to praise the dissolution of an advisory panel as the effort has been handed off to the Department of Homeland Security.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 11:00 am
Right. I’m sure homeland security will find those 5 million illegal voters no one else has any evidence exist. Make sure to let us know how that goes.
Comment by PJ Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 11:23 am
So I guess I can still spend election days voting early and often? Committing a felony every time I attempt to blindly forge a signature I’ve never seen to add one meaningless vote to a candidate?
Sweet.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 11:23 am
==has been handed off to the Department of Homeland Security.==
They’re too busy threatening to arrest politicians for “sanctuary” laws.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 11:36 am
Next fight related to this is the 2020 Census…Trump administration is intentionally tanking it (see recent appointment of Brunell) so blue states - like IL - will have severe undercounts in POC communities and will potentially lose seats and federal dollar$.
Comment by Veil of Ignorance Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 12:09 pm
@Veil of Ignorance, spot on. local government officials must count and give proof of count to overcome what the Census deniers are (not) doing.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 12:16 pm
Trump dissolved the commission because - in one of the best examples of a successful loyal opposition this past year - a Democrat who agreed to be on the commission insisted on being relevant, and successfully sued the Republicans on the commission to share their findings.
Once that lawsuit looked like it would be successful, they pulled the plug.
Comment by ZC Thursday, Jan 4, 18 @ 2:39 pm