“Pound sand” is more or less the response that Kris Kobach, Donald Trump’s voter suppression vice chair, has gotten from most states in response to his demand for extensive voter information. But if you want something more specific, CNN has counted it up:
As of Tuesday afternoon, two states -- Florida and Nebraska -- are still reviewing the commission's request. Another two states -- Hawaii and New Jersey -- have not returned CNN's request for comment. And while six states are still awaiting a letter from the commission, four of them -- New Mexico, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia -- have already pledged not to provide voters' private information. The other two of those six states, Arkansas and Illinois, have not released statements ahead of receiving the letter.
Just three states -- Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee -- commended Kobach's attempt to investigate voter fraud in their respective statements. [...]
Other states were more critical. Nineteen openly criticized the commission's request. [...]
Three state leaders also raised doubts about the integrity of the commission itself, and many questioned the existence of widespread voter fraud.
So as many states questioned the commission’s existence or mission as received Kobach’s letter happily. Things got to the point where Kobach had to go out and “clarify” about the commission’s existence and mission, and his own request. He only ever wanted public information, he says. And:
"First of all, the commission is not to prove or disprove what the President speculated about in January," Kobach said. "The purpose of the commission is to find facts and put them on the table. Importantly, it's a bipartisan commission."
That’s all so reassuring to hear from one of the nation’s most notorious enemies of voting. But the “bipartisan” aspect of the commission is just pathetic. And has anyone told Donald Trump that his commission does not exist to do the thing he’s most interested in when it comes to elections or anything else? (That thing being “prove Donald Trump is right.”)
Wednesday, Jul 5, 2017 · 8:03:12 PM +00:00
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Laura Clawson
Gov. Chris Christie presumably does not want his state government saying anything about sand (pounding it or otherwise) in the wake of his little beach problem, but however they’re putting it, New Jersey will join the states provide no information that isn’t publicly available or “that does not follow the appropriate legal procedure for information requests.”