When President Trump first took office he created a commission on election integrity. This week that commission requested public voting data from all 50 states, including people’s names, addresses and voting histories.
In many states that information is publicly available. But in Virginia, only certain groups can access it -- and for a price.
If you hold elected office, or are running for it, you can access the state’s voter information. Political parties, political action committees, or nonprofits that register people can also access that data. But first they have to buy it.
The state’s department of elections sells registered voters’ names, addresses, voting histories, and more to those groups that qualify. In a request for pricing information, an agency spokeswoman wrote “there are several factors involved in generating data prices, which include the number of registered voters… and the type of data.”
The Governor’s office says Trump’s election commission is not a qualifying group.
And in a statement, McAuliffe refused to hand the information over -- saying voter fraud isn’t an issue and he won’t validate the commission’s work by complying.
Virginia’s relatively restrictive laws mean that without the approval of the Governor, Trump’s commission seems unlikely to get what it’s seeking.
