While everyone is (rightly) obsessed with the
Comey firing... Trump appoints
another white nationalist ideologue to lead his dangerous “election
commission”.
Yesterday (May 10), just before basically conceding
the White House lines on the Comey firing over the past 48 hours were
fabrications, Trump launched
a long-promised commission on “election integrity,” rekindling a controversy
over the prevalence of voter fraud at US polls. The commission, established by executive
order, is the upshot of Trump’s
unsubstantiated claim shortly after
taking office that more than 3 million undocumented immigrants illegally
voted in November’s election. The new commission
includes Republicans Connie Lawson, the secretary of state of Indiana, and Kenneth
Blackwell, who formerly held that post in Ohio; Democratic election officials
William M. Gardner of New Hampshire and Matthew Dunlap of Maine. Christy McCormick, a Republican member of the
nonpartisan US Election Assistance Commission appointed by President Barack
Obama, has also been selected to serve on the panel. All these officials seem entirely reasonable
choices, but he has appointed Kris Kobach to co-lead (along with Vice President
Mike Pence) this commission and its investigation. Kobach is a white nationalist, anti-immigrant
ideologue with a long and notorious career of voter suppression efforts. The new commission is unlikely to find much evidence
of real voter fraud, but with Kobach’s guidance, it could entrench voter
suppression measures nonetheless.
