ACLU files FOIA request seeking evidence of Trump's voter fraud allegations

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Kobach: This is a first of its kind effort vs voter fraud

Kansas secretary of state sounds off on Pres. Trump's decision to appoint him and Vice President Mike Pence to a new commission that will investigate voter fraud and other election irregularities #Tucker

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request Thursday seeking any facts or evidence supporting President Trump’s claims that the 2016 presidential election was muddied by widespread voter fraud.

Dale Ho, the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, called Trump’s establishment of a commission to review alleged voter fraud and suppression a “boondoggle” and part of his plan to “spread his own fake news about election integrity,” The Hill reported.

“The president has alleged that ‘millions of votes’ were ‘illegally’ cast ‘for the other side.’ No concrete evidence has been provided thus far to support the president’s serious indictment against American democracy. Yet the president’s allegations are the basis of an executive order to establish a ‘Commission on Election Integrity,’” the ACLU said in its request. “This FOIA demands that the government release the factual basis and evidence supporting the president’s allegations.”

Trump signed the executive order Thursday to review alleged voter fraud. Vice President Mike Pence will chair the commission, while Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has investigated voter fraud in Kansas, will serve as vice chair. Other members of the commission include: Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R), New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner (D), Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D), Christie McCormick, commissioner of the election assistance commission, and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R).

The White House said the commission will review practices that affect the integrity of federal elections--spanning improper registrations, improper voting, fraudulent registrations, fraudulent voting and voting suppression.

Voting experts and many lawmakers have said they haven't seen anything to suggest that millions of people voted illegally, including House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz. The Utah Republican said his committee won't be investigating voter fraud.