“The executive order signed today by President Trump to set up a Presidential Commission to investigate alleged voter fraud is really an attempt to bolster his allegation that 3 million people voted fraudulently in the last election, thus depriving him of the majority of the popular vote. Vice President Mike Pence will chair the commission, with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach serving as vice chair. Appointing Kobach, who has dedicated himself in Kansas to suppressing voter turnout, only emphasizes that this investigation has no basis in reality.

The time, energy, and taxpayer dollars allotted for this Commission should instead be directed at enforcing and strengthening voting rights laws and making it as easy as possible for all eligible individuals to cast a ballot. In the nearly four years since the 1965 Voting Rights Act was devastated by the US Supreme Court’s Shelby decision, countless measures to limit access to the ballot have been passed, and again and again found to be discriminatory, but only after long and costly court battles. In-person voter fraud — the kind alleged by Kris Kobach and President Trump — on the other hand, has been found to exist at a rate of approximately zero percent.

“NCJW has been in the struggle to achieve and preserve voting rights for many decades. We would welcome a commitment from the Administration to study real election issues like voter suppression, but this commission is not it.”