Voter suppression the goal?

Is suppression of Democratic voters the goal of President Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity? Prior voter fraud claims by the commission’s activist vice chair and early Trump supporter, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, prompted the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice to respond (May 11): “Kobach could have a platform for his exaggerated and debunked claims. His record in elections and voting reveals that he has spent the last decade pursuing policies that are harmful to many Americans- particularly those Americans who are not white, who are elderly, or who are low-income. Americans should be wary now that President Trump has chosen to put Kobach in this role.”

This triggers memories of bogus Republican-alleged voter fraud in Washington’s close 2004 gubernatorial race between Democrat Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi. Initial machine count favored Rossi by 261 votes, machine recount by 42, but final manual count elected Gregoire by 129 votes. Rossi filed suit to overturn the result in Republican-friendly Chelan County Superior Court. But the Republican-elected judge, after research, ruled negligible fraud, though more by Republicans than Democrats, and boosted Gregoire’s winning margin to 133 votes. Chastened by his party’s own judge, Rossi abandoned his expected Washington State Supreme Court appeal.

Norm Luther

Spokane