Every state now has to decide how it will handle the request by President Donald Trump’s Election Integrity Commission for all 50 states to hand over their states’ full voter-roll data – including names, addresses, dates of birth, party affiliations, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006.
Some states – like Kentucky – have said they will not be aiding the commission, which they consider at best a waste of time and money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression.
North Carolina’s Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics released a statement Friday noting that the commission has now limited its request to publicly available voter roll data and saying it will comply – as it must under state law.
“We understand concerns about voters’ privacy,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, the board’s executive director, in the statement. “The State Board will provide to the Commission publicly available data as already required under state law.”
Gov. Roy Cooper also released a statement questioning the request itself.
“Integrity of our elections is critical, and a recent State Board of Elections investigation already found there was no evidence of significant voter fraud in North Carolina,” Cooper said. “My staff has told the State Board of Elections that we should not participate in providing sensitive information beyond what is public record as it is unnecessary, and because I have concerns that it is an effort to justify the President’s false claims about voter fraud.”
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