Tomas Lopez: Presidential Commission on Election Integrity a GOP Trojan Horse to Expand Voter Suppression

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

Is Presidential Commission on Election Integrity a GOP Trojan Horse to Expand Voter Suppression?

Posted July 19, 2017

Interview with Tomas Lopez, counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program, conducted by Scott Harris

Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory in the November presidential election surprised most political pollsters and the majority of voters who had supported Hillary Clinton. Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots, which caused a frustrated Trump to repeatedly make the false claim that 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants had voted for the Democratic candidate.

On the basis of this false accusation, designed to provide a rationale for his historic popular vote loss, President Trump initiated the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to investigate alleged fraudulent voting. The Commission is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach serves as vice chairman. Kobach is well known as the architect of voter suppression laws adopted by states across the country, as well as Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant “papers please” law SB 1070.

On behalf of the Commission, Kobach requested voter information from all 50 state governments in late June. However, the request for voters’ names, addresses, birthdates, party affiliation and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, was refused outright by 19 states, with others unwilling to comply with key parts of the request. Democratic legislators have demanded Kobach be fired, and four lawsuits have been filed against the Commission for violation of various federal laws. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Tomas Lopez, counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program, who discusses his concern that the Commission may be a “Trojan horse,” established to usher in more restrictive voter suppression laws for partisan political advantage. [Rush transcript]

TOMAS LOPEZ: Last fall, both prior to the election and after the election, President Trump made a number of statements about widespread voter fraud being a concern, and then, you know, an actual thing that he alleges happened in last year's election. He claimed that three million to five million people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, but I can tell that there is no evidence to back that up. Our concern is that this commission that has been set up with Kris Kobach as (vice) chair – and then with also a number of the other leading individuals with a long history of supporting voting restrictions – we were worried that what they're going to be doing is trying to justify these claims of widespread voter fraud and also forwarding an agenda, we fear, to call for voting restrictions around the country. More aggressive voter purges and generally takimg a big step backward in voting rights.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tell our listeners exactly what is Kris Kobach and this presidential commission asking the state governments for? What type of information are they after?

TOMAS LOPEZ: Sure. A couple of weeks ago,(Kansas Secretary of State) Kobach sent a letter to all 50 states and asked them to provide voter data on name, date of birth, last four digits of their Social Security number, felony conviction history, whether or not they voted in elections going back to 2006. A whole ream of information, a lot of which many states don't even allow to be released. This information we now understand, especially after statements have been made, seems as if the commission intends to try to compare this giant list that they would get of 200 million American voters of every state that produces data to federal government databases to try to come up with some kind of alleged list of potential noncitizens that are on the voter rolls or people registered to vote in multiple states and use that information to attempt to justify voter restrictions at the federal level.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tomas, what has been the response of state governments across the country to this request for voter information from Kris Kobach and this commission?

TOMAS LOPEZ: What we have seen is that states have largely rebuffed this request and that they have done so across party lines. There are over 20 states that in one way or another have declined either to provide any data at all, or have imposed really tough conditions on the commission before that data is being released. There are some states that are providing data that the state is claiming is not shielded by law and what we're seeing is that across the political spectrum, election officials are not really happy with this request. You have some Democrats, like you might expect, that are questioning the motives of the commission. Questioning why they are asking for such personal data. But you also have the Secretary of State of Mississippi come out and tell the commission they could go jump in the Gulf of Mexico. They've exposed an issue that I think touches a nerve for voters, for officials and for people across party lines.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What are the checks and balances on this commission and their work? If indeed, their mission is to further voter suppression across the country, what force in Congress or in civil society in general can challenge that?

TOMAS LOPEZ: One of the things that is important to understand is that this commission does not have subpoena power. This commission can't force the states to do anything, can't force others to do anything. It doesn't have legislative power. But it does have a really big platform by being created by a presidential executive order, by having the imprimatur and legitimacy that comes from being a presidential commission. This is not something that should be taken lightly. Our concerns and I think that the concerns that voters and election officials are expressing about what this body is doing – they don't come from nowhere. Kris Kobach is getting a lot of attention, but he's not the only person on this commission who gives us concerns.

Hans von Spakovsky, another member, in many ways is the intellectual godfather of the effort that we've seen in recent years past restrictive voting laws around the country. J. Christian Adams is a former Department of Justice attorney who in recent years has brought a series of lawsuits attempting to force states and localities to more aggressively purge voters so that they can – in such as way that you end up taking eligible voters off the rolls. And J. Kenneth Blackwell, the former secretary of state of Ohio, is somebody who had a long track record when he was running elections in that state, of both troubled administrations and of putting together rules that made it more difficult for people to cast a ballot.

For more information, visit Brennan Center For Justice at brennancenter.org.