Voters across the country slammed President Donald Trump’s commission on voter fraud in public comments sent to the panel — calling it a “a sham,” “evil” and “vile” for requesting mountains of personal data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity's request for extensive information about voters ignited a bipartisan firestorm from officials who oversee elections. So far, 48 states are not fully complying with the panel’s request, according to an NBC News count.
Many officials and watchdogs have expressed disbelief and outrage at the request — some info is confidential or sensitive, they say — and the public comment request from the commission ahead of its first meeting next week was a chance for voters to weigh in.
The comments, which were released Thursday and included 112 pages of emails, ranged from thoughtful critiques to profanity-laden tirades, some of which included "f bombs."
READ: Here are all the voter comments
"You are evil. Pray there is no hell,” wrote one critic.
Some comments singled out Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who co-chairs the commission, with one voter calling him a “disgusting fraud with no moral bearing whatsoever.”
“Find any dead people on the voter rolls of the two states complying with your request?” wrote one concerned voter to Kobach.
“I picture you in the White House basement, perched over an Old PC as you input voter info on a spreadsheet and decide how many Smiths and Joneses are dead, duplicates, ineligible, felons, minorities,” the voter added.
The commission was formed by Trump in May through executive order based on the president’s unfounded claims that “millions” voted illegally in the 2016 election, costing him the popular vote against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Experts have concluded that voter fraud is extremely rare.
“Hands off my voting rights,” wrote a voter. “Trump lost the popular vote because he is not popular.”
After the June letter, the commission almost immediately hit a snag. Aside from the states refusing to fully comply, several lawsuits were filed by privacy and civil liberties groups, forcing the commission to halt its work collecting data.
When the panel released the public comments, some of them included voters' phone numbers and email addresses.
“I hope and pray that you fail,” wrote a voter in one of the emails.
Others argued that the request could lead voter suppression or the data could be subject to hacking by foreign governments, such as Russia, or other individuals.
“You seem only interested in keeping poor, minority voters from getting to the ballot boxes and in solving a non-existing problem,” one person wrote said.
“I will only trust your committee if it is truly bi-partisan and is clearly trying to get the vote to every single citizen of this country — not just the safe Republican supporters,” a voter commented.
“I am ashamed that my tax dollars are being used for such purposes,” a voter said.
“Perhaps there is a safer better way to go about your jousting at windmills,” another response said.
There were few who showed support of the panel’s work.
One voter, who identified himself as a Trump supporter, expressed concern that his home state of Colorado was not sharing data with the commission. Another called the panel's work a "necessary investigation" and asked to join the commission.
