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Trump election commission puts voter-registration request on hold

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July 11, 2017, 6:50 am

Registered Eagle County voters worried about their private voter-registration information becoming public if it’s handed over to President Donald Trump’s controversial commission on voter fraud can breath a sigh of relief — at least for now.

eagle county logoThe Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on Monday sent an email to Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams — and election officials across the nation — instructing them to hold off on submitting data while a judge weighs a lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center seeking to block release of the information.

Williams has been blasted by critics of the commission for saying he would comply by Friday, releasing only information the state considers public anyway and withholding private information such as social security numbers or birth dates.

That had voters at some Colorado election offices deciding to “un-register” to avoid having their information sent to a commission headed up by Vice President Mike Pence and controversial Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Some critics see the commission as a solution without a problem that’s actually aimed at voter suppression. Trump, angered he lost the popular vote by a huge margin, has insisted it must be because so many people voted illegally, although that assertion has been widely debunked.

Eagle County Clerk & Recorder Regina O’Brien last week sought to reassure local voters that no private information, including “any portion of a voter’s social security number, their driver’s license number, their full date of birth and their email address,” will be turned over to the commission.

“This information will not be included in the voter information the Secretary of State will be providing to the Election Integrity Commission,” O’Brien said in a press release last week. Here’s that full release:

Eagle County Clerk addresses concerns on voter record information and privacy

The Eagle County Clerk & Recorder’s Office is fielding inquiries on voter records and confidentiality, following an announcement from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office indicating the state will release publically available voter information to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.  By state law, this information is available to anyone who requests it, and is expected to be provided to the advisory commission on July 14.

Colorado county clerks and the State of Colorado are required to maintain certain information on registered voters.  Some of this information is considered public record while other information is private.

According to Eagle County Clerk & Recorder Regina O’Brien, private information includes any portion of a voter’s social security number, their driver’s license number, their full date of birth and their email address.  “This information will not be included in the voter information the Secretary of State will be providing to the Election Integrity Commission,” said O’Brien.

Data that is public record includes the voter’s full name, residential address, party affiliation, date of affiliation, gender, birth year, phone number if provided by the voter at registration, and whether the voter has voted in prior elections.

Residents can become confidential voters if there is belief the voter or a member of the voter’s household will be exposed to criminal harassment or bodily harm if the voter’s information is made publicly available.  A confidential voter’s information will not be released to the public. To become a confidential voter, visit the Eagle County Clerk’s Office in person, fill out the voter confidentiality form, and pay $5 by cash or check for the statutorily required processing fee. This will remove voter information from future lists, but will not remove information from past editions already released.

Survivors of domestic violence, sexual offenses or stalking may also enroll in Colorado’s Address Confidentiality Program. Voters who are part of this program will not have any of their voter information released to the public.

Voters are reminded that even if they are listed on the National Do Not Call List, political calls to voters are permitted under Colorado law.  There is no complaint or removal process established for these types of calls. However, a voter can remove a phone number from their voter registration by visiting www.govotecolorado.com and updating registration information.  This provides no guarantee that a voter’s phone number will not be obtained from other sources. For example, this will remove phone numbers from future voter lists, but will not remove them from past lists released or from the phone directory.

For more information, contact O’Brien at regina.obrien@eaglecounty.us.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.