Will Republicans Continue To Fight Trump's Voter Fraud Commission When It Costs Them Something?

Early resistance is promising, but will red states really reject voter suppression designed to help them win?

(Photo by MICHAEL OWEN BAKER/AFP/Getty Images)

Reports indicate that 44 states have declined to give Donald Trump’s “voter fraud” commission all the information the administration requested. Red states and blue states have demurred. Democratic politicians and Republican ones have raised questions about voter privacy. While the Republican-controlled House and Senate seem perpetually afraid of the bully-in-chief, state governments continue to be a thorn in his side.

The White House disputes the “44 states” number. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is leading the commission along with Mike Pence, tried to muddy the waters with a statement that said, in part: “In all, 36 states have either agreed or are considering participating with the Commission’s work to ensure the integrity of the American electoral system.”

Obviously, saying that 44 states are not complying in full does not contradict the statement that 36 states are considering participating. I’m considering getting on the elliptical trainer tonight, though I remain in defiant non-compliance of my doctor’s orders to lose weight.

But fighting about the precise number of states in revolt is the argument the administration wants us to be having. The voter-fraud commission is itself fraudulent, and that is why a good number of states are resisting. The precise number of resisting states is largely irrelevant. Professor Rick Hasen explained the ultimate problems well on Slate last week:

The report will likely conclude that even if there is no evidence of actual voter fraud, the potential for voter fraud and noncitizen voting is there because of inaccurate rolls. Accordingly, they will argue it is necessary to roll back the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (or “motor voter” law)—a law which folks like Kobach hate because among other things it requires states to offer voter registration at public service agencies. They’ll want federal law to do what federal courts have so far forbidden Kobach to do: Require people to produce documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote. In other words, show us your papers or you can’t register.

Repealing the enfranchising parts of the motor voter law would be a terrible thing, but the good news is that the “electoral integrity” commission’s efforts are already so outlandish and lacking in credibility that it will do nothing to help get the law repealed. Serious Democrats and Republicans know this effort is a sham. This is a faux commission that is not following sound social science or bipartisan principles.

You’ll note the dangerous assumption in Professor Hasen’s argument. He thinks “serious” Republicans and Democrats will have the backbone to stand up to the administration when it comes time for the commission to kill what it was put on this Earth to destroy. That’s wishful thinking, to my eyes. I have long passed the point where I expect any thoughtful resistance from elected Democrats and Republicans. If there is an aggrieved and easily confused white person out there, both parties have shown a willingness to sell the whole store to get that person’s vote.

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But the refusal of states to fully comply with the Commission’s requests is really solid evidence for Professor Hasen’s hope. State elected officials are proud of their elections and committed to their integrity. They really might not roll over and let the federal government tell them that they’re all potentially corrupt. One has to take a step back and realize how INSANE it is for Trump to be questioning the integrity of an election that he’s already won, even as his campaign is being investigated for conspiring with a foreign government to steal it.

Team Trump has no moral or political credibility on the question of “election integrity.” In a decent world, that lack of credibility alone would stop him from being able to change how Americans can register to vote.

Still, there’s a realpolitik aspect to this voter-fraud commission that might obviate all other concerns. Democrats win when more people vote, Republicans win when fewer people vote. We all know this. We can play footsie under the table about the grand philosophy of the franchise, but as we become a majority-minority country, there are really only two options for the Republican Party: appeal to minorities, or suppress the minority vote. Clearly the current GOP leaders have chosen the latter path, and that means that they have to find new ways to suppress the vote as a matter of political survivability. And clearly the Democrats have to make it as easy as possible for everybody to participate, because they certainly aren’t doing anything to inspire people to overcome hurdles on their way to the polls.

I mean, just look at how Jon Ossoff seemed to forget that black people lived in his district. The Democratic Party can barely motivate people to wait in line. The Republican Party would be crushed if everybody showed up.

Voting rights debates break down along partisan lines, not because the two parties have competing ideologies about how to run a republic, but because the two parties have the same idea of how to win an election: “There are more of us than there are of you.” Red state officials — however many you’d like to believe — who are resisting the president now may well flock to him when it comes time to secure their electoral futures. And we know John Roberts isn’t wild about letting non-whites vote anyway.

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Early resistance to the voter-fraud commission is promising, but showing up on the battlefield doesn’t mean you’re ready to fight a war.

Trump’s Voter Fraud Endgame [Slate]


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.