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You are Watching a Nationwide Voter Suppression Campaign led by the White House and Department of Justice
Dictators stay in power by not allowing a vote for their position at all or staging an "election" that is controlled in a manner that pre-determines the results. In the United States, something so brazen seems unimaginable. In May 2017, an executive order was signed to create a commision on "election integrity." Their work began in early July with significant opposition. We must view that executive order to eliminate non-existent voter fraud as directly from the playbook of a dictator, supported not just by Trump, but by a Republican Party determined to hold onto power at all costs. The playbook is just beginning to unfold and we must pay attention and Be Smart so we can Actively Dissent.
Four things happened [in late June] that pose a grave danger to voting rights. All four of these actions would be disturbing on their own, but taken together they represent an unprecedented attack on voting rights by the Trump administration and Republican Congress.
1. The House Appropriations Committee voted to defund the Election Assistance Commission, the only federal agency that helps states make sure their voting machines aren’t hacked. The House Administration Committee previously voted to kill the EAC in February, but yesterday’s vote makes it one step closer to reality—practically inviting Russia to try to hack our elections again.
2. The Department of Justice sent a letter to all 50 states informing them that “we are reviewing voter registration list maintenance procedures in each state covered by the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act]” and asking how they plan to remove voters from the rolls.... it’s a clear instruction to states ... to start purging the voting rolls.
3. The White House commission on election integrity, led by vice chair Kris Kobach, also sent a letter to 50 states asking them to provide sweeping voter data.... Never before has a White House asked for such broad data on voters, and it could be easily manipulated by Trump’s commission. Kobach has a very well-documented record of making wildly misleading claims about voter fraud and enacting policies that sharply limit access to the ballot in his home state of Kansas. He’s been sued four times by the ACLU for voter suppression and was sanctioned by a federal court last week for “deceptive conduct and lack of candor.”
4. The Trump administration named Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation as a member of the commission, who’s done more than anyone other than Kobach to spread the myth of voter fraud and enact suppressive policies.... “the point person for undermining the Civil Rights Division’s mandate to protect voting rights.” With the likes of Kobach and von Spakovsky on it, Trump’s commission has nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with suppressing votes ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Watch More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/justice-department-pushes-states-on-voter-roll-purge-985548867591