California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has refused to turn over voting data to President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Padilla said he denied the request Thursday because it would only serve to “legitimize false claims of massive election cheating last fall.”
Padilla’s refusal to hand over the requested data — which would have included the names, addresses, political party and voting history of California’s nearly 20 million voters — comes after he declared his absolute confidence that no voter fraud exists in California shortly after the election.
The vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Kris Kobach, sent letters to every state on Wednesday requesting “information that he said would help the group examine rules that either ‘enhance or undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of federal elections processes,” the Times reports.
Padilla made it clear that he considers the commission illegitimate.
“I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally,” he said in a written statement published by the Times. “California’s participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach.”
Concerns about voter fraud in California have been raised since it began handing out drivers licenses to millions of illegal aliens a few years ago.
Critics urge that the quickest way to eliminate concerns over mass voter fraud in California would be to cross-reference jury duty response cards and DMV records against voting history. Other, much smaller states that have done this have found an extraordinarily large number of ineligible individuals registered, and many voting.
The Los Angeles Daily News reports that “[a]ccording to California’s Voter Bill of Rights, ‘voter information may be provided to a candidate for office, a ballot measure committee, or other person for election, scholarly, journalistic, political, or governmental purposes, as determined by the Secretary of State.’”
Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers cannot be shared.
Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman and author, currently on a book tour for his new book: Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless. He ran for governor in 2014.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.donnelly.12/
Twitter: @PatriotNotPol
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