Newly released email data shows two Republican not-yet-members
potentially influencing a controversial letter — even as a Democratic
member claims he was largely excluded from the process.
This report was published on October 5, 2017.
On Friday, in response to a judge’s order, the Department of Justice
released data showing the authors, recipients, timing, and subject lines
of a group of emails sent to and from the Presidential Advisory
Commission on Election Integrity. They show that in the weeks before the
commission issued a controversial letter requesting sweeping voter data
from the states, co-chair Kris Kobach and the commission’s staff sought
the input of Hans von Spakovsky and J. Christian Adams on “present and
future” state data collection, and attached a draft of the letter for
their review — at a moment when neither had yet been named to the
commission.
The commission’s letter requesting that data has been by far its most significant action since its formation in May — and was widely considered a fiasco. It sparked bipartisan criticism and multiple lawsuits. Yesterday, a state court blocked the state of Texas from handing over its data due to privacy concerns.
The involvement by Adams and von Spakovsky, both Republicans, in
drafting the letter even before they were nominated to the commission
shows their influence. Von Spakovsky previously raised eyebrows after
documents from February showed him lobbying against the inclusion of
Democrats on the commission.
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Source: ProPublica
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