SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on the Illinois Board of Elections to utilize every legal authority to refuse any disclosure of sensitive voter information to the Presidential Commission on Voter Integrity. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as the vice chair of the commission, penned a letter on Wednesday to all 50 states and the District of Columbia requesting that all publicly available voter roll data be sent to the White House.
“Based on the President’s comments and behavior and his choice of Kris Kobach—who has earned significant criticism and notoriety for his endless attempts to disenfranchise voters—as the vice chair, I do not trust this commission to examine voting issues in a thorough, legitimate manner,” said Durbin. “I believe this commission is designed to further undermine the public’s confidence in the credibility of our elections, and its letters this week raise significant security and privacy concerns. I strongly encourage the Illinois Board of Elections to oppose this unethical effort to collect voter information."
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Durbin continued, “I believe that the American people deserve an independent, non-partisan investigation into the 2016 presidential election—one that scrutinizes President Trump’s unfounded accusations of widespread voter fraud, Republican efforts to suppress turnout with burdensome voting restrictions, and Russia’s interference in our election and reports of contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government."
According to Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Ken Menzel, as of Friday, the office had not yet received the letter. Once it’s received, Mr. Menzel said they will review the request and decide how to proceed. The information requested by the commission includes the names, addresses, birthdates, political party, last four digits of the voter's Social Security Number, and which elections the voter has participated in since 2006 for every registered voter in the country. Mr. Kobach did not say how the commission specifically plans to use the data.
In May, Durbin reiterated his calls for an independent, non-partisan investigation into the 2016 election after President Trump signed an executive order launching a commission to review "voter integrity" in the U.S. election system.
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