Almost 3,500 Coloradans Cancel Voter Registrations Over Fraud Commission Fears

By Daniel Politi, Slate

17 July 17

housands of Colorado residents have canceled their voter registrations, afraid that President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission would publicly release private information. In total, 3,394 Coloradans have canceled their registration since the White House began requesting that the states hand over data on voters. Although that represents a mere 0.09 percent of the 3.7 million voters who are registered in the state, officials still call the figure surprising and unprecedented, reports the Denver Post.

County election officials say in general voters give two reasons for canceling their registrations. Some outright say they don’t trust the president’s voter-fraud commission while others said they’re only realizing now how much of their personal information was already public under state law. “It’s my hope that folks who withdrew their registration will re-register, particularly once they realize that no confidential information will be provided and that the parties and presidential candidates already have the same publicly available information from the 2016 election cycle,” Republican Secretary of State Wayne Williams said in a statement.

Last month, the commission led by Vice President Mike Pence wrote a letter to all 50 states requesting information on registered voters. Although the vast majority of states refused to hand over all the information that the commission was requesting, Colorado was one of a handful of states, including Missouri and Tennessee, that explicitly praised the work of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. “We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions. I wish more federal agencies would ask folks for their opinion and for information before they made decisions,” Williams said shortly after the request was filed.