PRINCIPLES: Byron York: Rebel states sell info they hide from Trump voter commission.
In response, state officials not only refused to provide Kobach the requested information — at least 45 have said no so far — but have tried to outdo each other in expressing patriotic outrage that the commission would even consider asking such a thing.
“My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico,” wrote Mississippi’s Republican secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann.
“[The] Constitution ensures voters ballot choices will always be secret. Americans have died protecting this freedom,” tweeted South Carolina’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster.
“I find this request for the personal information of millions of Marylanders repugnant,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh. “It appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President Trump’s fantasy that he won the popular vote.”
“I have no intention of honoring this request,” said Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. “This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November.”
For commission members, the responses are hard to understand. “The reaction to this has been absurd,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a former Bush Justice Department official, former member of the Federal Elections Commission, and head of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, who is now serving on the Trump commission. “The commission is asking for voter registration and other information that is publicly available. Not only do all of the political parties buy this information routinely from secretaries of states — so do candidates.”
It’s true. Just look at, say, the Department of Elections webpage in Terry McAuliffe’s Virginia. The department lists “client services” that include the purchase of voter lists. To candidates, parties, campaigns, and “members of the public seeking to promote voter participation,” the state of Virginia will sell:
Registered Voter List (RVL) and Newly Registered Voter List (NRV) — full name, residence address, mailing address, gender, date of birth, registration date, date last registration form received, registration status, locality, precinct, voting districts and voter identification number.
Want the data in slightly different form? Virginia also sells:
List of Those Who Voted (LTWV) — full name, residence address, mailing address, gender, date of birth, registration date, date last registration form received, registration status, locality, precinct, voting districts, voter identification number, election date, election type, and whether the voter voted in-person or absentee.
For another example, look at the state of Maine, which has also refused to cooperate with the commission, but which by law spells out the types of voter information it will sell. . . . Notice that much of the information for sale in Maine and Virginia is similar, if not identical, to the data requested by Kobach. Many states have similar provisions. Which raises the question: If voter information is for sale, why is it a matter of principle to refuse to provide it to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Electoral Integrity?
Read the whole thing. They’re either posturing, or they’re trying to hide something, or both.