Trump goes after states on voter data: 'What are they trying to hide?'

Trump goes after states on voter data: 'What are they trying to hide?'
By Alicia Cohn - 07-01-17 09:24 AM EDT

President Trump on Saturday blasted the more than two dozen states refusing to comply with his election integrity commission's request for voter data, asking "What are they trying to hide?"

Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

At least 24 states, with both Republican and Democrat-led governments, have so far refused to provide all or some of the voter information requested by Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the vice chair of the commission, had a similar response to the president on states refusing to comply.

"Frankly, if a state like Kentucky or California won't provide available information, one has to ask the question, 'Why not?'" Kobach said Friday during an interview with NPR's "All Things Considered."

"I mean, what are they trying to hide if they don't want a presidential advisory commission to study their state voter rolls?" he asked.

Several states have replied to that question.

"There's not enough bourbon here in Kentucky to make this request seem sensible," Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) said on MSNBC. "Not on my watch are we going to be releasing sensitive information that relate to the privacy of individuals."

The information requested by the commission's letter to all 50 states included voter names, birth dates, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers and party affiliation. The request was for information publicly available under each state's laws. Many states are providing part of this information.

Several states, among them California and New York, said participating in the attempt to compile voter data would legitimize or perpetuate false claims of massive voter fraud.

Trump has made such claims before, including claiming that that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election. Kobach says he does not know if such claims are true but the commission is investigating them.