U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has asked the Trump administration to disband its election integrity commission and “reverse the damage that it has already caused in” Colorado, in the state who have withdrawn their voter registrations in the panel’s wake.
“The stated purpose of the Commission is ‘to increase the American people’s confidence in the integrity of our election systems,’ ” the Colorado Democrat wrote in a Friday letter to Vice President Mike Pence and the commission’s vice-chair, . “Yet, the entire premise for its origination has zero basis in any peer-reviewed study or analysis. … This Commission was formed as the result of delusion, conspiracy theories, and truly ‘fake news,’ but it is having a very real and dramatically chilling effect on voter participation.”
Through Friday, nearly 4,000 Coloradans had canceled their voter registrations since the commission from all 50 states. On July 10 alone, 1,237 Colorado voters withdrew their registrations.
Another 200 Colorado voters have signed up to become “confidential voters,” a designation that allows their information to be withheld.
“In Colorado, we have taken great pride in expanding access for voter participation while protecting the integrity of our elections,” Bennet wrote. “We have led the nation in adopting early voting, mail-in ballots and same-day registration. This Commission is working directly counter to those efforts and is stifling the progress we have made.”
The Washington Post reported Monday that the day after Donald Trump was elected president, Kris Kobach — Kansas’ secretary of state — to allow stricter requirements on voter registration.
President Trump established the advisory commission in May with a mandate to review U.S. election integrity, with a focus on voter fraud, voter suppression and other “vulnerabilities.” But the effort has been clouded by privacy concerns and distrust from the start.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, along with dozens of other secretaries of state across the country, has said he will provide the commission with information only considered public under Colorado law — a category that includes voters’ names, addresses, party affiliations, birth years and which elections they have participated in.
The commission’s request, however, is on hold while a legal challenge plays out in court.
Also on Friday, Williams saying the state’s election system works well and that a blanket request for voter information isn’t an effective way to seek out fraud.