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Privacy Watchdog Sues Trump's Election Committee Over Voter Data (engadget.com)
From a report: When the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity sent a letter to all 50 states seeking personal, identifying information on all voters in the US, at least 44 states refused in some part. Trump signed an executive order last May to create this commission while claiming that millions of people had voted illegally. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has taken issue with this request, as well, and has filed a lawsuit accusing the Commission of violating the privacy of American voters. EPIC also asserts that the original request asks states to send the data to a non-secure website, making the data vulnerable to identity theft and financial fraud. Not to mention political agendas. EPIC is also seeking information about "the failure to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment," and has filed for a temporary restraining order "to block the Commission's efforts."
I thought no stone should be left unturned and no law left unbroken in the witchunt.. oh wait, I mean "ubiased investigation" to show that Russia OMG HACKED the election?!?!
These people are clearly on Putin's payroll and are part of the pro-Trump conspiracy!
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Here's another story you may be interested in:
Chloe lit a cigarette and rolled down her window. The slim blonde valued her time alone; she sometimes felt that she couldn't be completely herself around others. All the boys who were entranced by her notoriously tight and shapely bum just didn't understand the girl who sat on it.
She wears a pair of tiny denim short shorts which hug her shapely yet slim hips and tight round ass. Every day she went to the gym to do squats to keep that shape. It was important to her to her. Over her white crop top she wears a red flannel shirt. Her hair is tied in pigtails just begging to be pulled as you bend her over and fuck her tight little ass doggystyle.
She gets out of her car and saunters across the parking lot, into the donut shop. She stands in line and shuffles her feet. When she orders a large coffee with cream she doesn't think about the consequences it could have on her bowels.
Chloe may have been considered a "hot chick" but she considered it no secret that with the right mix of ingredients in her flat stomach, she could cook up farts and a shit that would clear a room.
Unfortunately for her, the moment the hot coffee hits her stomach she feels a palpable shift from her lower abdomen to her butthole. She adjusts her short shorts and gulps down another sip, feeling it fill up her belly. It's been a few days since the sexy blonde had had a satisfying dump.
"Oooh. So full. Gotta unload soon" she thinks to herself.
She keeps drinking the large cup. With every drop she feels the big poop lodged in her colon push harder and harder against her soft young asshole.
She sits in the corner of the shop, scrolling through instagram.
She takes a tentative look around and lets a tiny fart escape her creamy cheeks.
"Mmm. A little better. But I need a toilet to wreck soon..." she decides as she gets up.
She rounds the corner and finds the ladies room door. She enters the three stalled room and scoots toward the middle one.
Once inside the sexy blonde bites her lip as she feels the solid poop poking its way out of her asshole with increasing urgency. She locks the door. She grips her stomach as she lets her short shorts and thong fall to her ankles and plops down her taut bubble butt on the toilet seat.
She closes her big blue eyes and concentrates on pushing out the monster turd that seems far too thick for her tight little asshole. But this snake has been curled up inside her rectum and belly all morning.
"Just takes a little coffee to move it along and make me drop a big stinky one" she giggles to herself as her stomach gurgles and churns. She leans forward, her toned abs contort as she clasps her hands together in her lap and scrunches up her face. The enormous log of poop works its way out of her colon, as she lets it unload out of her asshole. The solid log slides out of her crack and splashes in the toilet water.
She exhales heavily... On the inhale she is greeted by the familiar stench of her favorite private moments; a good dump.
"Oof. and it is stinky. Sure hope noone walks in on this"
She pulls out her phone from her button down shirt pocket and begins to scroll through snapchat. She even sends off a few toilet selfies. "Haha. I'm so gross I love it."
The rancid yet somehow fresh and healthy smell of chloes guts fills the bathroom from her butthole outwards. Another big, hot , steaming shit falls to the toilet and Chloe sighs with relief as she feels her stomach muscles contract and relax after their mighty feat.
As she pulls the toilet paper loose from the roll, she wiggles her butt on the toilet seat. The door opens and she hears someone enter the stall next to her. She feels bad for whoever it is... "It must smell like I dropped the biggest, nastiest shit of 2017" she thinks to herself. Chloe crumples up the toilet paper and reaches behind her to wipe between her smooth round cheeks. Her shapely rump spreads as she itches the shit out of her soft asshole.
She smiles and lets out a few gassy farts. "Ah. What a relief." she thinks as she is inundated with her naughty smell. "I love being a ratchet nasty bitch."
Someone with a suspicious mind might think that these people have something to hide.
I'm not as concerned about voter privacy (which I happen to think that voter records are something that a federal government could legitimately have reasons to demand accurate and unified data on) as the likelihood that whoever in this administration tasked to do it is some part time Republican committee-connected programmer bro (maybe not even that lowly skilled) who hacks together some shitty piece of analysis code that comes to wrong conclusions, is misused for political purposes, and is vulnerable to hacking.
This is the flavor of the week for the administration. It's one thing they are putting out there to see if it flies, and that's about how long their interest and dedication to doing the job right will last. There are people (secretaries of state, registrars, data scientists) whose entire lives are dedicated to maintaining and verifying and analyzig voter rolls. Who do you trust to handle and come to conclusions about this kind of data conscientiously?
As the Republicans say, when the Federal Government comes knocking with the line "I'm here to help" you should be scared. They're right in this case.
requesting that all the states turn over all this voter information and then imagine sputtering rage that would have ensued from the GOP.
The liberals asked for this investigation after Trump suggested their might be voter fraud. The media and liberals responded that if he was serious he should investigate. So he did, now they make a big deal about the necessary information requests to perform such an investigation. Maybe they should instead suggest how we can perform the investigation within their 'bounds of acceptance'.
The Democrats raised the loudest stick about elections being hacked. The Green party even raised millions to go over votes to check for validity across a few states...
Well then lets check, lets check everywhere the full extent of votes really being hacked, of votes really being cast illegally. What is the issue with not checking this? They claim voter privacy but there is no such concern in regards to the federal government which owns all of the results of a national election anyway and is legally free and clear to demand any information it likes.
Pretty obviously there is a lot more voter fraud going on than many would care to admit, and they do not want it uncovered - and here I'm speaking for both parties. This is yet another glimpse of the Deep State disliking being exposed to sunlight.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There are even websites right now that host internet-accessible, unsecured, voter registration data. What's the problem here?
I don't get the brouhaha. Save for SSN#, voter registration records are public. There's plenty of websites that provide names, dates of registration, political party affiliation, home addresses, phone numbers, and even dates of last elections they voted in. And even if a state doesn't provide a public search interface for its voter registration database, plenty of PAC'S, party officials, etc. can request the records for a nominal fee. You could also get personal information from a database of people making campaign contributions. That latter is how gay marriage activists were able to harass people like Brendan Eich for their support of California's Prop 8.
Didn't hear much from EPIC then.
I mean, what else would a bunch of pissy, sore loser liberals do than make as much trouble for Trump as possible. RI found 150k+ illegal voters a week or so ago. But there's no fraud here at all right?
You fucking losers just hate being wrong, so you lash out, call people names, threaten them and in some cases try to assassinate them. At some point you wankers will either grow up or being wiped off the map. Either way, everyone wins.
Pax Vobiscum
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and going. No pun intended. They are gay. And I don't mean that in a good way.
>voter records
Define.
Records of voter website preferences? Medical Records? Sexual history?
What is ok and what isn't is the question.
If you need to produce ID to buy a gun (which is a constitutionally protected right), then you should need to produce an ID to vote.
these are all issues that affect how each state is represented and are proper matters for a state to research (perhaps with support from the federal gov).
Why yes they are matters for the states to research.
However almost no states are doing so.
So the federal government has decided to do an audit. You know, like any non-crooked organization might have to do from time to time just to ensure things were on the level...
Why are people so resistant to a simple audit I wonder?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What are you worried about?
Actually investigating voter fraud might prove Trump correct?
Because the fact is the only reason we don't have evidence of massive voter fraud is no one is looking for it.
What are you afraid of?
What the hell does Trump think he's doing? Identifying all his 'enemies' within the 300,000,000 people in this country? What's next, Trump? Bringing back the McCarthy Committee? Loyalty tests? What a bunch of bullshit.
1. Put all of the data in a big Hadoop cluster.
2. Throw in social security records.
3. MapReduce/Spark
4. Nice big graphical charts that lay bare how absolutely cluster fucked our election system actually is in terms that even someone with an 80 IQ can understand.
My bet:
1. You'll find a lot of UMC voters double voting in different states where they have legal residences.
2. You'll find a lot of dead voters still voting.
3. You'll find a lot of immigrants.
If anything, I expect to find that felons are the least problematic group as most of them won't give two shits about voting if it steers them anywhere near a repeat offense that sends them back to prison.
Sending sensitive, private financial information to CFPB? EPIC is A-OK with that!
Sending sensitive, private medical information to the Federal Data Services Hub under ACA? EPIC is A-OK with that too!
Collecting minimal voter information that's already mostly public to see whether there might be a problem with illegal voting? EPIC can't allow that!
It seems to me like EPIC is more driven by political partisanship than by a consistent concern for protecting the privacy of Americans from federal overreach.
http://www.npr.org/sections/th...
"The letter, sent Wednesday to all 50 states, requests that all publicly available voter roll data be sent to the White House..."
They're asking for otherwise-PUBLICLY AVAILABLE information. They're not asking for secret stuff (why would the states have that anyway?).
Isn't it getting a little tiresome to misinterpret everything Trump does as malignantly as possible?
-Styopa
Is not the Democratic's futile attempt to find any improper connection to Russia the very definition of what McCarthy was about....
The funny thing is that from later history, we know that McCarthy was actually onto something at the time, as Russia was indeed meddling in a lot of things he was investigating.
Sure seems like Democrats are the ones overly jumpy about Russians now. Talk about the Red Scare...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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"...and has filed a lawsuit accusing the Commission of violating the privacy of American voters."
Well, see, that's the thing. We want to confirm these are AMERICAN voters. Not Mexican. Not Cuban. Not Venezuelan. Not Russian.
DemocRATS are shaking in their boots when Trump wants to shine the light on their shady shit!
Looks very reasonable to me. https://apps.npr.org/documents...
...which I happen to think that voter records are something that a federal government could legitimately have reasons to demand accurate and unified data on...
I'm not disagreeing with your overall comment, but some federal governments may legitimately ask for this, but the executive office of the United States of America cannot. The executive branch has no role whatsoever in elections.
Article I, Section 4 of the constitution states:
Section. 4.
Clause 1: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
It is up to the states to control elections, Congress can pass laws that can make and alter elections nation wide. The Executive office plays no role. Article 2:
Section. 1. ...
Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The states are also in charge of their electors in the electoral college for the President of the United States. The President is not involved. The President should not get involved in the sausage making of the office of the President, as it would be a conflict of interest and cross the boundaries of the balance of power.
The twelfth amendment altered the way the electoral college worked, but it left un-changed the fact that the States, and not the federal government, is in charge of elections.
So it is true that some federal governments may have an interest in this, the federal government of the United States has an extremely limited role. The executive branch has no role in this whatsoever.
Look, the problem is that we know at least 39 states were hacked, and voting machines in specific counties and precincts were disabled, and attempts were made to disenroll American voters, by Russia.
But the commission is correct that the Russian White House is trying to make it worse.
Expect new actions after Putin's lapdog gets his new marching orders from his master at the G-20.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Born a citizen: provide a birth certificate and some sort of ID or witness that is also a US citizen.
Naturalized: provide a copy of your naturalization paperwork and a passport with your ID on it if you haven't already gotten a photo ID from a state government.
The election can't be rigged. The election was hacked. No one voted who wasn't supposed to. Verifying the integrity of the election is illegal.
From the Election Integrity Commission letter sent to Maine's Secretary of State:
As the Commission begins it work, I invite you to contribute your views and recommendations throughout this process. In particular:
1. What changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
2. How can the Commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
3. What laws, policies, or other issues hinder your ability to ensure the integrity of elections you administer?
4. What evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or
registration fraud in your state?
5. What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in your state since the
November 2000 federal election?
6. What recommendations do you have for preventing voter intimidation or
disenfranchisement?
7. What other issues do you believe the Commission should consider?
In addition, in order for the Commission to fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting, I am requesting that you provide to the Commission the publicly-available voter roll data for Maine, including, if publicly available under the laws of your state,
[following is list of requested information]
the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available addresses dates of birth political party (if recorded in your state) last four digits of social security number if available voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward active/inactive status, cancelled status information regarding any felony convictions information regarding voter registration in another state information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.Not even the whole SSN, just the last four digits...if available...if permitted by state law.. My dog, just think of the privacy implications!
Well, I can see why EPIC would be so opposed to such a request! (actually, I can't.)
Wow... "insecure website" ?!? The Department of Defense (DOD) does not rely on any public CA's and thus has their own Public Key Infrastructure. Maybe these Root Certificates should be installed on US Government Systems? AMRDEC Safe does a great job of protecting secure data transfers. (one time downloads, etc..) ... It's actually one of the best (actually working) Government websites.
https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe/
It sounds like the organization is basing its complaint on headlines, instead of what was actually requested. The committee did not ask for private information, or for information that it would be illegal to provide. Rather, the committee asked for information that was available to the public. Essentially, it seems to me, the committee was looking to save a few bucks by getting the data gift-wrapped, instead of going out and getting the data itself.
EPIC are clearly in on the mass voter fraud in states like Michigan (esp. Denver) Virginia and obviously California. Never in American history has Cali been so partisan yet not in any way reflective of the overall national EC. It just doesn't happen. One sided results in Cali were always followed by EC landlslides of 400 + nationally. Blatant cheating occured there and elsewhere to a lesser extent through massive numbers of Sanctuary illegals voting and "EPIC" are in on the big cover up. Google/Bing 'Project Veritas'
Block all blue states from participating in federal elections until they can prove, either by providing data to the federal government or through an internal audit run by an independent entity, that they don't have dead people, illegal aliens or other fraud on their voter rolls. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/14/...
Also, we need a federal voter ID law for all federal elections. The ID can be free, but you have to spend the time up front to get it at least 2 weeks before the election. If you can't be bothered, you clearly don't value your voting rights. We have made voting rights universal, to the detriment of the country, but there used to be all kinds of restrictions on voting rights, having the very minimal requirement of a photo voter ID is common sense if you want to prevent voter fraud, and a big problem if you are perpetrating it.
The Democrats hate voter ID laws for the simple fact that they abuse the ignorant (busing people from homeless shelters), the elderly (busing people from nursing homes who are mentally incapable of voting), the incarcerated, the dead, and some other just blatant fraud. Investigation into the veracity of the voter rolls would reveal some of this fraud and spur motivation for a national a voter ID law (probably in concert with a national registry that prevents voting in multiple states and culls dead people from the rolls periodically) and that would dramatically increase the difficulty of this fraud and abuse of our election system.
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
I wish I had mod points to mod you up. I also wish that dumb-ass and chief would get to work. Is executive pay and benefits eligible to be considered and "Entitlement" when applied to billionaires?
So basically, the Government may have to cough up tax money which will go to the EPIC. US Citizens lose even if they win.
This can be done without sending the data to the Federal gov't. Allow auditors the ability to run queries physically at the states, but not remove any data from the state without getting permission. Disable the USB ports and search them at the door. Or only allow them to request queries in writing; they'd never have to touch the database itself.
Are you sure about this? We do have a federalist system.
Table-ized A.I.
There's a right to privacy and the voting system requires that your vote be a private matter between you and the pencil you used to put the cross in.
Dictatorships want to know who voted against them.
Trump's job is to destroy the credibility of the USA. His dilligence is extreme. His paymasters, the oligarchs possibly in Russia but more likely in Koch industries or wherever will not be complaining.
I know lots of people say Trump is doing this because he's so egotistical that he can't believe he actually lost the popular vote. I actually think that's unlikely and 2 other reasons are a lot more likely.
1) It's simply red meat for his supporters and nothing more. If you have friends on Facebook who are pro-Trump and pro-Republican, you have probably been appalled at some of the crazy things they think are true. I'd love to see someone take a poll to verify this, but I suspect that Trump's supporters believe as much as 50% of the USA population is on welfare (actual number is about 8%) and that 20% or greater of the people in the USA are here illegally (it's actually about 4%).
2) Trump loves to distract his detractors with things they shouldn't even pay attention to, like tweets. Trump may actually know full well he lost the popular vote but this committee is meant to serve as a distraction from something else (health care failure maybe).
Keep in mind that some of the wing nuts on the left have already played into Trump's hand by publicly asserting that zero fraudulent voters occurred in the 2016 elections. All Trump has to do is find one anywhere and they're proven wrong. This could be simply about showing up his detractors who said there weren't any fraudulent votes and discrediting them for the future.
I discount anyone who would use A/C as a shield.
" Please... they screamed it very loudly. They are still screaming it."
That is made up again.
I'm not disagreeing with your overall comment, but some federal governments may legitimately ask for this, but the executive office of the United States of America cannot.
The President of the United States is the Chief Executive, which is responsible for enforcing the laws of the United States. You are arguing that the office charged by the Constitution with enforcing the laws of the United States is prohibited by the same document from investigating compliance with those laws.
So it is true that some federal governments may have an interest in this, the federal government of the United States has an extremely limited role. The executive branch has no role in this whatsoever.
Are you arguing that the mission of the Department of Justice's Voting Section, including enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is an unconstitutional overreach by the Executive Branch?
I look forward to the liberal hand-wringing which will surely follow as you attempt to defend Federal involvement in elections for the purposes of enforcing laws you like while being opposed to Federal enforcement of laws you don't like. It's either that or a failure to address the inconsistency at all.
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The data requested is available to anyone who asks. It doesn't include HOW someone voted, only the names, addresses etc of 'registered voters' that is available as 'public domain' information.
But you don't care. You won't accept reality and none of the people who believe your shit would believe anything else.
Then you've come to the wrong place pal.
If you don't oppose all entitlements then how do you distinguish between one and another? See the problem is, that you like entitlements, you just don't like all of them.
Personally, I would be happy with no entitlements at the Federal Level, or even at the state level. If municipalities want to have them, it is easy enough to move out of town, once it has gone to hell.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Why is this -1?
From the Election Integrity Commission letter sent to Maine's Secretary of State:
As the Commission begins it work, I invite you to contribute your views and recommendations throughout this process. In particular:
1. What changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
2. How can the Commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
3. What laws, policies, or other issues hinder your ability to ensure the integrity of elections you administer?
4. What evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or
registration fraud in your state?
5. What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in your state since the
November 2000 federal election?
6. What recommendations do you have for preventing voter intimidation or
disenfranchisement?
7. What other issues do you believe the Commission should consider?
In addition, in order for the Commission to fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting, I am requesting that you provide to the Commission the publicly-available voter roll data for Maine, including, if publicly available under the laws of your state,
[following is list of requested information]
the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available addresses dates of birth political party (if recorded in your state) last four digits of social security number if available voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward active/inactive status, cancelled status information regarding any felony convictions information regarding voter registration in another state information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.Not even the whole SSN, just the last four digits...if available...if permitted by state law.. My dog, just think of the privacy implications!
Well, I can see why EPIC would be so opposed to such a request! (actually, I can't.)
So troll porn posts get modded 0:offtopic, but pertinent information valuable to the discussion is rated -1? Tch, Tch, mods.
From the Election Integrity Commission letter sent to Maine's Secretary of State:
As the Commission begins it work, I invite you to contribute your views and recommendations throughout this process. In particular:
1. What changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?
2. How can the Commission support state and local election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities?
3. What laws, policies, or other issues hinder your ability to ensure the integrity of elections you administer?
4. What evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or
registration fraud in your state?
5. What convictions for election-related crimes have occurred in your state since the
November 2000 federal election?
6. What recommendations do you have for preventing voter intimidation or
disenfranchisement?
7. What other issues do you believe the Commission should consider?
In addition, in order for the Commission to fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting, I am requesting that you provide to the Commission the publicly-available voter roll data for Maine, including, if publicly available under the laws of your state,
[following is list of requested information]
the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available
addresses
dates of birth
political party (if recorded in your state)
last four digits of social security number if available
voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward
active/inactive status, cancelled status
information regarding any felony convictions
information regarding voter registration in another state
information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.
Not even the whole SSN, just the last four digits...if available...if permitted by state law.. My dog, just think of the privacy implications!
Well, I can see why EPIC would be so opposed to such a request! (actually, I can't.)
Man, I just love Slashdot constitutional scholars! Oh, uh, btw, which branch is it that is (or rather was until SCOTUS gutted it a few years ago) responsible for enforcing federal laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Or perhaps the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984, or the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 , or the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, or the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, or the Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009?
Every one of those federal laws requires states to provide any required/requested information to the authoritative department of the executive branch and to Congress to ensure compliance with the laws.
I don't suppose in your fevered opposition to Trump that maybe one reason GOP states are reluctant to turn over some data is because it might show evidence of disenfranchisement of certain demographic groups in elections? Wouldn't that be ironic if that's the case? Yet, Democrats so desperate to cling to the utterly useless moral victory of winning a popular vote (in just a couple of populous California counties mind you) they'll pass up an opportunity to 1)gloat over a finding that widespread election fraud didn't happen, and 2)uncover illegal Republican disenfranchisement of Democrats in Republican majority states.
The Executive Branch enforces the law. It is dishonest or ignorant to say they have no role.
The STATES SELL basically the same information to ANYONE, for $$$. Also your entire dribble about it violating the constitution is just flat WRONG, the National Voter Registration Act, passed by Congress, delegates the authority to the executive branch. http://www.washingtonexaminer....
You're a fool, AC.
SPOTTED: Jared and Ivanka chatting with Joel Klein and Alan Patricof, Kellyanne Conway on the dance floor, Boyden Gray, Chris Ruddy, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and wife Iris, Katharine Weymouth, Mary Jordan, Richard Cohen, Margaret Carlson, Gillian Tett, Steven Spielberg chatting with Steve Clemons and Robert Hormats, Carl Icahn, Tom Lee (famous for doing a leveraged buyout of Snapple and now lives in Princess Radziwill’s house), David Koch, John Paulson, Dina Powell, Richard Edelman, George Soros and his wife Tamiko Bolton, former Florida Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham (Lally’s uncle), her cousin Gwen Graham (who is running for Florida governor), Maria Bartiromo, Ray Kelly, Bill Bratton, Jeff Rosen, William Drozdiak, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).
TFA is wrong.
"The letter, sent Wednesday to all 50 states, requests that all publicly available voter roll data be sent to the White House..."
But you'd know that if you had read the actual letter, which you can see in full on the article I linked to, instead of relying on lazy journalists who provide opinions but not sources.
These are the same left-leaning Democrat funded group that claims to be independent yet attacks only Republicans.
Never forget that:
Independent voters are twice as likely to commit a violent crime than a Republican.
Democrats are SEVEN times more likely to o commit a violent crime than a Republican.
Every one of these states makes these exact data sets available to the political parties and to elected officials and candidates for the benefit of the political elites (for targeted mailings, campaigning,polling, etc).
The Trump administration could, in fact, get this stuff indirectly from friendly political people who can legitimately get it or may already even have it.
So... What's this fight REALLY about???
Here's what the fight is REALLY about:
If the Trump team uses data obtained indirectly, then critics will claim the data used was possibly suspicious or edited or manipultaed etc and the results are thus tainted. The Trump team wants to take the real and legitimately obtained data and compare it to other government databases of things like felons, known foreign citizens living in the USA, dead people, etc and for the first time ever finally establish some FACTS about this stuff that for many years have been abstract arguments based on guesses and suppositions.
The question every honest citizen should be asking is: Why are so many insiders so entirely opposed to these publicly available data sets being passed through proper channels to a federal government body for analysis, particularly when they are not opposed to this data being released to all other politicians for all other uses? This data is far less invasive than census data, and it will not land in the hands of anybody who cannot already have it. This fight is only truly about the path these data sets take to their destination, and removing the ability of some parties to cast artificial doubt on the results of a study by claiming the data was obtained too indirectly.
Do you not even read what you write "but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations", so yeah laws can be quite easily written which the states have to obey. This prima facie gives the Federal government right of access to all information relating to elections from the states ie the basis upon which laws would be written to over rule the states and federally define regulation governing the running of elections in those states, which the President and the executive branch would administer.
Do you not understand, the congress and senate write the rules and the executive branch, the President, carries our the rules.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Unless someone has silently edited either the Slashdot article or the Engaget article since you posted that, your statement is completely false. Nowhere on the version of the article that I read does it mention non-public data. At most, it talks about Louisiana refusing by saying they'll have to buy the publicly-available data.
But perhaps you've read the many other articles that did say that and you got confused, which is perfectly understandable. In that case, please try reading the actual letter instead of relying on lazy journalists who don't bother to cite their sources:
"I am requesting that you provide to the Comission the publicly available voter roll data" (emphasis added).
So no, neither the Slashdot summary nor the article linked here says that and it wouldn't be true even if they did say that. And any source saying that should give you a copy of the letter to verify it for yourself because if they do not, they are completely unreliable rumor mongers. If they bothered to cite reliable sources, they wouldn't have this sort of problem.
Am I right in reading this as saying that the government of the US wants to know who voted for what? I'm asking because I can't quite believe that I am reading this. Wasn't voting in secret supposed to be one of the cornerstones of democracy? If somebody, in government or elsewhere can subsequentially find out how individuals voted, how can we guarantee that there aren't voters who are being intimidated into voting the "right" way? Because President Trustworthy promises?
I discount anyone who would discount arguments just on the basis of their source. Evidence yes, but I didn't provide evidence. For the evidence you just need to do a little searching on google. What you are indulging in is straightforward ad-hominem and it shows only your own ignorance. If you can't come up with a better argument, then you should probably just assume I'm right.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't know who modded you down, f**k'em. Folks will be getting Entitlements for a very simple reason; I question if 1%'ers are entitled to them. Entitlements are cheaper than another French Revolution.
First, this is a bipartisan committee not just the administration. Second, only a few states are refusing to provide publicly available information, not 44. Third, the federal government has much more data on people than this basic voter information from your tax returns. All they want to do is confirm the voters informations on matches the information they already have to find any issues. What they are doing is not difficult, all it will tell them is if a more in depth investigation is needed.
Those that mod me down are kneejerking emotional babies. My analysis is correct, they like entitlements, just not all of them. I happen to like less entitlements than they like.
My question I left was also correct. Who decides which entitlements people are entitled to? We have elected officials who are happy to dole out the public's monies to stay in office. Rich, Poor doesn't matter as long as they can stick it to the middle class.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
It may be time for me to revisit my position of not moderating. I've noticed some pretty poor moderation, as of late. I didn't moderate, because I don't believe I am qualified to judge. At the same time, it looks like I am more qualified than many others.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Trump has claimed, with no evidence at all, that "millions" of fraudulent votes were cast.
This was done as a cynical ploy to bulk up his platform. His supporters lapped it up and Trump, in typical style, doubles down and continues with the bullshit claims.
There is no voter fraud, at least not at high enough rates to do anything about. If it happens at all it will be at something like 0.000000000000000000000000000001% of the votes cast. Yes, that too is an Alternative Fact.
This isn't the days of Tammany Hall. That era was so long ago that no one is left alive who remembers it, who lived through it. Boss Tweed isn't even a ghost of a memory.
The Fraud is claiming fraud with no proof. There isn't even anything suspicious to investigate. Why does this not count as theft, an attempt to steal from the Nation's Treasury, to investigate one party's BS electoral tactics? Spending money on this is like spending money on a search for unicorns, or bridge trolls, or the yeti.
"Well, we spent $40 million on our search for the unicorns and found none. Thus our commission can safely conclude there are no unicorns! However it was important to actively verify there were no unicorns and the important work of this commission can be reactivated if any unicorn droppings, horns or hides are unearthed."
Can't fix stupid.
Maybe you got modded down because your post wasnt very well thought through
"How do you distinguish between entitlements"? Observation maybe? Your comment is like saying "they're all cars so how can you possibly tell the difference!?"
Governments who give entitlements will inevitably "go to hell"? Yeah, every world government sure is going to hell right now.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
You did not disagree with me at all...
1. $120K is chump change to political parties and politicians who routinely get these data sets (and Trump could easily get them indirectly by getting them from one of these entities who obtained them this way)
2. FOIA requests are no detererrence at all if your name is Clinton. Hillary avoided all FOIA requests by doing all her state dept work on secret private servers, and when the public and the courts went after her docs, her State Department replied that no such documents existed. Half the country knew this about her and chose her to be president anyway... so why should ANYBODY now worry about interfering with FOIA requests ever again?
3. Nobody said anything about average people dowloading this data from websites.
My arguments were not what you imagined them to be
They're "responding" to a request that wasn't made. We know this, because we can read the actual letter and see that they never asked for that.
What kind of idiot would fall for a childish trick like that?
> It uses the phrase "publicly available" then proceeds to list things that are generally not publicly available - varying by state of course.
It qualifies the entire list with "if publicly available in your state." That conditional would evaluate differently in each state, depending on local law.
Yes, some states do and some do not have those specific items. They wrote one letter for all 50 states and asked the state to supply whichever of that list of items is publicly available, figuring that the states would be smart enough to figure that out. It's written in such a way that it only requests an item if it is publicly available in that particular state.
So apparently a lot of Democratic states can't read simple English. Who knew?