After the 2016 election, President Trump established the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Do you remember? On May 11, 2017, he signed an Executive Order establishing the commission. Vice President Pence headed up this commission and it could have no more than 15 members. Vice Chair of the Commission was Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Its charge was set forth in the Executive Order 13799.

The Commission shall, consistent with applicable law, study the registration and voting processes used in Federal elections.  The Commission shall be solely advisory and shall submit a report to the President that identifies the following:

• (a)  those laws, rules, policies, activities, strategies, and practices that enhance the American people’s confidence in the integrity of the voting processes used in Federal elections;
• (b) those laws, rules, policies, activities, strategies, and practices that undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of the voting processes used in Federal elections; and
• (c) those vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for Federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting.

In a call with commission members on June 28, 2017, members were told a letter would be sent to the 50 states and District of Columbia on behalf of the Commission requesting publicly-available data from state voter rolls and feedback on how to improve election integrity.

Here we are, four years later, facing legitimate recounts and lawsuits over dead people voting, improper counting, lack of signature verification, and other violations of various state laws. Here we are, four years later, with so many voting “irregularities” that 50% of the US voting population doesn’t trust the outcome of the election.

What ever happened to that commission and its work? It was disbanded due to the refusal of certain states to participate and litigation brought by some with no interest in verifying voter roles, in election integrity. It was disbanded by those who claimed there was no voter fraud, no irregularities. It was all made up by Donald J. Trump. Odd, since he won.

If you believe there should be a national voter database and/or national voter ID cards, knowing what happened to this commission, who brought suit, what the commenting members of the public had to say should be at the top of your reading list.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• September 12, 2017 Commission meeting links (note the YouTube video of the meeting has been removed)
• January 3, 2018 Executive Order 13820 Disbanding the Commission
• Commission documents provided as a result of a lawsuit filed by Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap
• NPR article with first letter requesting voter registration roles and some state’s responses
• PBS.org article listing every state’s response to the request for voter registration roles