Here’s a
David Dunn, the former Democratic Arkansas legislator who’s now a lobbyist, was named to the commission thanks to his friendship with Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin. Martin is a friend of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a driving force on this commission and in voter purges in general.
I’ve been unable to talk to Dunn, but his office supplied me today with the statement he delivered at the opening meeting. Each commissioner issued a statement. Dunn said he was interested in election integrity and said he wanted the commission’s work to be transparent. He also addressed an issue that has proved controversial, the request for personal voter data. Mark Martin alone turned over all the data in his possession, though it did not include some military, criminal and Social Security information that Kobach also wanted because it was not in his possession.
Dunn said he hoped the commission “will ensure the privacy of America’s voting public. I understand while the letter that was sent to the states asked for only publicly available voter information, it still raised concerns. And I believe that any data, statistic or information collected by us or by the states should be held in our trust and safeguarded from any political misuse.”
I hope Dunn is right. But with Trump leading the way, I think his hope will be in vain. Vice President Pence opened the meeting today claiming all would be bipartisan. But that was trumped, so to speak, by bluster from the White House. Trump has spoken repeatedly, without evidence, of illegal voting, perhaps by “millions.” And today he said states who’ve resisted supplying information are trying to hide something. Many of these states are Republican led, it’s worth noting.
Politico noted that comments today about vote fraud and election tampering didn’t touch on Russian election meddling and cyber security.
AND THIS: Kobach, asked directly if he thought Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 said, “We may never know the answer.” And we’re supposed to look to him for integrity?