WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S Senator Tammy Duckworth joined Senator Cory Booker and a number of their colleagues in introducing the Anti-Voter Suppression Act to repeal President Trump’s Executive Order establishing an “election integrity” commission to investigate widespread voter fraud. Duckworth has been a vocal critic of the commission’s actions, including its intrusive and illegal request for personally-identifiable information on every United States voter, which they temporarily halted amid a growing number of legal challenges.
“Instead of focusing on the serious threat to our democracy posed by known foreign attacks on our election infrastructure, this commission appears to be attempting to manufacture false evidence of massive voter fraud to justify voter suppression,” said Duckworth. “I can’t help but think back to 2005 when I was laying in my hospital bed looking at pictures of Iraqis – including women, Christian minorities and marginalized groups – with green thumbs who were so proud they could vote freely for the first time thanks to the sacrifice of American troops. Now, we have a Commander-in-Chief who is spearheading an effort to take away the rights of people to vote through an illegal action.”
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The Anti-Voter Suppression Act would also prohibit any federal funds from being used to support the Trump voter suppression commission. People are more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit in-person voter fraud. A 2014 study found only 31 credible instances of in-person voter fraud were discovered out of more than one billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014.
“The right to vote is among the most precious features of our American democracy,” said Senator Booker. “We will not go back to a time when millions of people, most of them poor and minorities, were silenced through disenfranchisement. Yet that is exactly what President Trump seems to want to do with this sham of a commission. And all to appease his enormous insecurity about the fact that he lost the popular vote by a sum of 2.9 million Americans. We will fight him every step of the way. Even one taxpayer dollar spent on this circus would be a waste of resources.”
