Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said Thursday he plans to fulfill a White House commission’s request for detailed state voter data by providing the same public information that would be available to anyone who asks. However, if information that’s considered confidential is requested, it’ll be held back, he said. Williams and all other secretaries of state in the country received a letter Wednesday detailing the request from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a co-chair of the bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. President Donald Trump created the commission last month to examine vulnerabilities in election systems “that could lead to improper voter registrations, improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting.”
… “Colorado’s going to participate, we’re going to provide the publicly available information just like we do to anyone else that asks, and certainly we want the opportunity to provide input as to how the process can be better,” Williams said, noting that the commission had requested some data that Colorado law considers confidential and could put voters at risk of identity theft – such as birthdate and the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number. The state does provide birth year with voter data.
… Williams noted that political parties and candidates regularly purchase voter data identical to what his office plans to hand over to the White House commission. “We never demand that you only get the information for proper purposes,” he said. “That would kind of eviscerate the entire concept of open records.”
Williams said he would huddle with staff over the next week to consider Kobach’s questions about various election integrity matters and would share his responses with the public when he submits them. But he added that he thought it refreshing that the commission was asking for suggestions before starting its work.
Full Article: Colorado elections head will withhold confidential data from White House commission | Colorado Springs Gazette, News.