California Refuses Bogus ‘Election Integrity’ Commission’s Data Request

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, listens to the debate over his bill that would make California the first state to ban single-use plastic bags, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. By a 22-15... Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, listens to the debate over his bill that would make California the first state to ban single-use plastic bags, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. By a 22-15 vote, the Senate approved SB270 and sent it to the governor.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) MORE LESS
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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (pictured above) on Thursday refused to send any information from the state’s voter rolls to the dubious “election integrity” commission convened by the Trump administration.

The commission’s vice chair, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, demanded Thursday that all 50 secretaries of state hand over the voter information to the commission, which has committed itself to combatting voter fraud, even though that occurs at minuscule levels across the United States.

Kobach’s own career-long effort to institute strict voting laws has vaulted him to the top of conservative policy circles on the issue, in addition to earning rebukes from several federal judges.

“I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally,” Padilla wrote. “California’s participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach.”

He was referring, presumably, to Trump’s repeatedly debunked claims that Hillary Clinton only won the popular vote in the 2016 election due to millions of illegal votes. Kobach repeatedly backed the bogus claims.

Read Padilla’s full statement below:

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