President Donald Trump signed an executive order disbanding a commission he created to investigate his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election, the White House announced on Wednesday.
The White House cited a lack of state cooperation in its decision. “Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry,” the White House said in a statement. “Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action.”
Republicans have, in the past, supported Trump’s claims of election manipulation. A poll released by the Washington Post in August found that 47 percent of Republicans believe Trump won the popular vote (he didn’t), 68 percent believe that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 election (they didn’t), and 73 percent believe voter fraud occurs regularly (it doesn’t).
While voter fraud never was, in fact, an issue in the 2016 election, voter suppression was. As Pacific Standard has previously noted, a report issued by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice found that 14 states had implemented new voter restrictions for the 2016 election, such as photo identification requirements and limits on mail-in ballot collection. In 11 of those states, Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, Senate, and governorship.
