Highlights from First Meeting of Commission on Election Integrity

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity met for its inaugural meeting today in Washington, D.C. The commissioners gave opening statements, shared what they think priorities for the commission to study should be, and emphasized that they hope the commission's work can increase voter confidence in the election system.

The RNLA live tweeted many of the key moments of the meeting, which was streamed live online. We wanted to summarize and bring you the highlights:


Vice President Pence, also serving as Commission Chair, during opening remarks:

"We want to hear the voice of the American voter," @VP says. #electionintegrity

— RNLA (@TheRepLawyer) July 19, 2017

President Trump greeted the Commission. He rhetorically questions why some states willfully refuse to share public voting information:

President Trump on states that refused to share voter information: "One has to wonder what they're worried about" https://t.co/rIic2jaUqd

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 19, 2017

Vice President Pence, no less than three times, emphasized and reemphasized the following point:

"We have no preconceived notions or preordained results." ~ @VP #electionintegrity

— RNLA (@TheRepLawyer) July 19, 2017

Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach, and Kansas Secretary of State, attempted to dispell the rumors of the left:

Kobach reiterating private voter data will be kept private.

— RNLA (@TheRepLawyer) July 19, 2017

Commissioner Bill Gardner, Democrat Secretary of State from New Hampshire, was consistently on point. He pointed out this excellent fact--voter ID does not equate to lower turnout--two of the highest turnout states have voter ID laws in place:

Busting the suppression myth: States with the highest voter turnout are those that require #voterID https://t.co/yvWiMqQ4zm pic.twitter.com/l9qcq9a0YH

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) July 19, 2017

Commissioner McCormick, who also sits on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, did not parse words about her experience with voter rolls:

EAC Com. McCormick never seen an accurate voter list. Despite Obama com. supporting such efforts, Left has opposed efforts 4 clean lists.

— RNLA (@TheRepLawyer) July 19, 2017

Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky, from the Heritage Foundation, wants to be clear not all errors in voter rolls are malicious, but, nonetheless, they need to be promptly corrected:

von Spakovsky wants to distinguish between error in duplicates on voter rolls and those who may be trying to "take advantage" of the system.

— RNLA (@TheRepLawyer) July 19, 2017

You can watch the entire meeting here. The next meeting is not expected until sometime in late-September or October. In the meantime, we will keep you up-to-date with any news and developments.