Here it comes. Kris Kobach, the master of voter suppression who designed the Crosscheck program, unjustifiably purging thousands of voters from the rolls for having similar names to voters in neighboring states, has now, as head of the so-called President’s Election Integrity Commission, sent a request to all 50 states to furnish detailed voter information including voting records.
The request is for your name, date of birth, last four digits of your Social Security number and your voting history going back to 2006. There is, presumably, no way to know how you voted, but which primary ballot you requested is a matter of public record.
We should all be on the horn to our respective Secretaries of State to say that we do not agree that this information be released. Also sounds like a lot of people would have standing to sue- but while the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law condemns the move and urges Secretaries of State not to comply, they don’t say that it violates any laws, no matter how much of a violation of basic rights it feels like.
Previous reporting on Crosscheck, by Greg Palast for one, said that before crossing, say, John B Wilson off the rolls because there was a person of that name registered in both Michigan and Ohio, they were supposed to verify not only complete names but Social Security numbers. In practice, though, there was no checking of SS numbers, and John B and John S Wilson were considered a close enough match. Both gentlemen would receive a postcard in the mail, often enough overlooked, and then show up to vote to be told, sorry. Palast did have some leaked copies of these lists, but was unable to obtain enough of them, as I understand it, to get enough traction for the story to break open.
For more info please read Jon Queally in Common Dreams: www.commondreams.org/…
and a quick plug, this excellent source of news, perspective and activism could also use your support. Some days I would like to make a diary from almost all of their articles.