Shawn GriffithsThousands of voters have cancelled their voter registration in Colorado since President Trump's election integrity commission requested personal voter data on every registered voter in the country. That is what the Denver Post reported Thursday.
"Nearly 3,400 Coloradans canceled their voter registrations in the wake of the Trump administration’s request for voter info, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Thursday, providing the first statewide glimpse at the extent of the withdrawals," writes the Post's Brian Eason.
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Three thousand voters is not that significant of a number when compared to the state's 3.7 million registered voters, but that is a huge drop off in registration in a period of mere weeks -- especially in cities like Denver.
Many voters appear to be concerned about the election integrity commission's request. Check out the following stats reported by the top election official in Denver on July 10:
- A 2,150 percent increase in voter registration withdrawals.
- A 1,833 percent increase in walk-in transactions with voters.
- A 790 percent increase in emails from voters.
- A 247 percent increase in phone calls from voters.
The article features sample emails and comments from Denver voters announcing their registration withdrawals and concerns over the data request.
"I never expected to come to work and see such a sudden increase in voter registration withdrawals. I never expected to see more withdrawals in a day than new registrations," writes Amber F. McReynolds, the Director of Elections for the City and County of Denver.
Kris Kobach, the vice chair of Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, sent a letter to every secretary of state in the country on June 26, requesting a broad scope of personal voter data if such data was publicly-available information.
The information requested includes: Full names of every registered voter, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if available), last four digits of social security numbers, voting history dating back to 2006, active/inactive status, cancelled status, felony convictions, and more.
Over a dozen states are refusing to comply with the commission's request. Colorado is not one of them.“Just like when we get a request, we don’t demand to know what they are going to do with the data,” said Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams. “There are important reasons why the voter roll is publicly available information.”
The commission put a hold on the request after being sued by a privacy watchdog group until a federal judge has determined whether or not the lawsuit can move forward.
The commission is also being sued by the ACLU over allegations that the commission is not complying with a federal law that requires public accountability from all advisory commissions.
Photo retrieved from Public News Service