Vermont Business Magazine Secretary of State Jim Condos has released a statement in response to President Trump’s Executive Order Thursday establishing a Commission on Election Integrity. The statement in full is below and the president's press release follows.
Condos: “Today President Trump announced the establishment of a commission by executive order to investigate the presence of voter fraud in elections.
"Despite continued assertions by President Trump that widespread voter fraud, in the millions, occurred during the 2016 election, there has been no evidence that any widespread voter fraud has occurred. In fact, the vast majority of elections administrators and Secretaries of State, both Democrat and Republican, agree that widespread voter fraud does not occur - a fact that independent studies have confirmed.
"The President’s unsubstantiated statements may actually undermine our elections process by demoralizing voters from believing in the integrity of our participatory democracy. In addition, such baseless accusations discredit our local and state elections officials, who are clearly dedicated to ensuring a fair elections process. It is unfortunate that the President continues to unfairly disparage our voting system - the very cornerstone of our democracy.
"The flawed mandate of the Commission, to be headed by Vice President Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kobach, both of whom have a track record of advocating for oppressively strict voting laws in their states, seems to suggest that the real purpose of the Commission is to provide justification for more efforts to intimidate and suppress voter participation.
"Voter ID laws, restrictions on early voting, and aggressive purging of the voter-rolls are unfortunate tactics used to limit certain eligible voter populations from voting, which creates a real threat to our democratic institution of voting.
"I anticipate that the recommendations from this Commission will be used to attack the voting rights of eligible voters. I urge my executive and legislative colleagues to remain vigilant, to protect our citizens’ rights, and to follow Vermont’s lead as a State which provides open and fair ballot access through same day and automatic voter registration, early voting and online registration - all without a single substantiated complaint of voter fraud in the last decade.”
President Announces Formation of Bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Integrity
WASHINGTON, DC (May 11, 2017) - Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the issuance of an executive order forming the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Integrity. The President also named Vice President Mike Pence as Chairman and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as Vice-Chair of the Commission.
Five additional members were named to the bipartisan commission today:
- Connie Lawson, Secretary of State of Indiana
- Bill Gardner, Secretary of State of New Hampshire
- Matthew Dunlap, Secretary of State of Maine
- Ken Blackwell, Former Secretary of State of Ohio
- Christy McCormick, Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission
"This action by President Trump fulfills another promise made to the American people,” said Vice President Pence. “We can't take for granted the integrity of the vote. This bipartisan commission will review ways to strengthen the integrity of elections in order to protect and preserve the principle of one person, one vote because the integrity of the vote is the foundation of our democracy."
The Commission on Election Integrity will study vulnerabilities in voting systems used for federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations, improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations, and fraudulent voting. The Commission will also study concerns about voter suppression, as well as other voting irregularities. The Commission will utilize all available data, including state and federal databases.
Secretary Kobach, Vice-Chair of the Commission added: "As the chief election officer of a state, ensuring the integrity of elections is my number one responsibility. The work of this commission will assist all state elections officials in the country in understanding, and addressing, the problem of voter fraud."
Additional Commission members will be named at a later time. It is expected the Commission will spend the next year completing its work and issue a report in 2018.