By: Associated Press//September 13, 2017//
By: Associated Press//September 13, 2017//
By The Associated Press
These are state-by-state responses to a request for detailed voter data from President Donald Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which is investigating voter fraud. The information indicates whether a state is willing to comply with, is denying or is undecided on the request for data. Some of the states that are willing to comply have fees or other requirements of the commission.
All the states that have agreed to comply are withholding some details the commission sought and are releasing only information considered public under state law. The commission sent one request in late June and another in July after a court said the data collection could move ahead.
MINNESOTA
Deny
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, announced he would not share the data with Trump’s commission. “I will not hand over personal data on the nearly four million Minnesotans who are registered to vote,” he said in a statement. “I have serious doubts about the commission’s credibility and trustworthiness, and I fear it risks becoming a partisan tool to shut out millions of eligible American voters. In addition, Minnesotans who registered to vote never thought their personal data would end up in some federal database.”
WISCONSIN
Comply
Administrator Mike Haas issued a statement saying most of the information in the state’s voter registration system is public, including voters’ names, addresses and voting history. The state doesn’t collect any data about a voter’s political preference or gender, he said.
The data is available for purchase and must be release to buyers, Haas said, adding that the commission routinely sells the information to political parties, candidates and researchers. The commission would charge the presidential panel $12,500 for the data, the maximum amount allowed under agency rules, he said. State law doesn’t contain any provisions for waiving the fee, he said. Wisconsin law allows the commission to share voter birthdates, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers only with police and other state agencies, and the presidential commission doesn’t appear to qualify, he said.
Information compiled by Associated Press reporters in each state and the District of Columbia.