WS Chronicle

Tell N.C. board to stand up to Trump’s bogus election panel

To the Editor:

You’ve likely heard about the request from the Trump “Commission on Election Integrity” for states to submit detailed information about voters.

Contrary to some reports, our State Board of Elections is NOT submitting any confidential information about voters, such as Social Security Numbers or birth dates.

Because of all of the pushback, the Commission’s request is on pause, but the threat is still real. The President’s Commission is stacked with advocates for heavy restrictions on voting, including its co-chair Kris Kobach, who believes that “millions” of voter fraud cases could have prevented Trump from winning the popular vote in 2016.

We need to send a message to our Elections Board to not let North Carolina’s data be used for trumped up claims of voter fraud.

In fact, our Elections Board conducted its own audit of the 2016 election and discovered two important facts: (1) matching names on huge databases will produce many errors – for example, it found that 98% of the NC voters on government databases of non-citizens are actually citizens*; and (2) most cases of improper voting are the product of poor voter education, not purposeful fraud.

Please send a message to the State Board of Elections now [To: Kim Strach, Executive Director, State Board of Elections] that says:

*Don’t send any sensitive information about N.C. voters, and don’t send anything until legal disputes about the Commission’s right to the data is resolved;

*Don’t send any data unless the Commission agrees to incorporate the State Board’s research verifying the legitimate status of our voters.

By state law, the N.C. Board of Elections can’t totally deny access to public information about voters, but it can protect our privacy and push back against this bogus Commission.

Thank you for taking action!

Bob Hall, Executive Director, Democracy North Carolina, Durham

Protect voter’s privacy, security, Rep. Adams tells Elections Board

To the Editor:

This request [by President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity] poses an urgent threat to the voting rights of millions of North Carolinians and the integrity of our election process. By partially complying with the commission’s request to handover voter’s full names, dates of birth, and partial social security numbers, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is giving legitimacy to the President’s false claims of widespread voter fraud – despite their own investigation which concluded that these claims were unsubstantiated.

Already, the Board of Elections is fielding calls from voters wanting to be removed from the voter rolls over privacy and security concerns.

If President Trump wants to protect the integrity of U.S. elections, he would reinstate the Voting Rights Act to make sure every eligible American voter is able to cast a ballot without barriers or intimidation.

I urge the Board of Elections to reconsider compromising voter’s privacy and security and refuse the commission’s request in its entirety.

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12), Charlotte

Note: Adams is calling on the North Carolina Board of Elections to protect voter’s privacy and security. Following President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity’s request for voter’s full names, dates of birth, and partial social security numbers, Rep. Adams sent a letter to Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, urging North Carolina to join a bipartisan group of states who have refused to turn this information over to the commission.