Councilmember Allen to Introduce Emergency Legislation to Protect DC Voters’ Personal Information From Presidential “Election Integrity” Commission

Media Contact: Erik Salmi 202-445-0834

WASHINGTON, DC – Councilmember Charles Allen, in his role as Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, which has oversight over the District’s Board of Elections, issued the following statement regarding a request from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity for every state and the District of Columbia to turn over voters’ personal information – including name, address, last-four digits of social security numbers, date of birth, party affiliation, and voting history back to 2006: “No.” 

“The District of Columbia will not be party to this blatant effort to intimidate voters. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud to support President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims. The myth of voter fraud is a distraction at best and at worst an intentional effort to justify laws to suppress votes – especially those of minority and elderly voters.  If the so-called Election Integrity Commission wants to talk about real ways to ensure more Americans’ votes are counted, we would be happy to share our work in passing automatic voter registration legislation with Secretary Kobach.”

Councilmember Allen continued, “In the meantime, I will introduce emergency legislation at the Council’s upcoming Legislative Meeting on Tuesday, July 11, to ensure our Board of Elections is not required to produce the personal information of District voters to the Commission. The legislation will not alter what information from the voter rolls is otherwise public.”