McAuliffe Obstructs Investigation into Voter Fraud

Governor McAuliffe sees no need to cooperate with any nationwide effort to verify that our elections are open and fair. He either thinks his state is a paragon of virtue, untouched by any election fraud, or he has something to hide. Either way, he’s on the wrong side of the issue.

The decision by Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (D.) not to cooperate with a White House commission examining voting processes in federal elections comes after a year in which the governor circumvented the commonwealth’s supreme court to restore voting rights for convicted felons and stalled efforts by the Virginia legislature to fight voter fraud.

McAuliffe announced on Thursday evening he has “no intention of honoring” a request for publicly available voter data made by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was established through a May executive order and is being led by Vice President Mike Pence.

Why not? What’s this guy’s problem?

McAuliffe stated in his rejection that there is “no evidence” of voter fraud in Virginia, and that the “only irregularity in the 2016 presidential election centered around Russian tampering.” He also stated his belief that the commission was set up as a “tool to commit large-scale voter suppression.”

Those are useless statements. In the first case, if there is “no evidence” of voter fraud in his state, then he has nothing to hide and his objection is pointless. We then get the attempt to distract from the issue at hand by playing the Russia card which has so far created more heat than light. Finally, he accuses the commission of being the vehicle for corrupting elections such as those in Virginia which he claims are pristine, a claim for which he presents no evidence.

When you start connecting the dots, the governor’s agenda becomes more obvious.

McAuliffe, whose office did not respond to requests for comment, has already vetoed numerous attempts this year by the Virginia legislature to limit the possibility of voter fraud in the commonwealth’s elections, despite the fact that 5,500 noncitizens have been identified on its voter rolls.

In February, McAuliffe vetoed legislation that would have triggered investigations in jurisdictions that had more people registered to vote than people who were eligible to vote.

The legislation followed a report that looked at a sample of just 8 of Virginia’s 133 jurisdictions and found more than 1,000 individuals who were illegally registered.

McAuliffe also vetoed a March bill that would have required the Virginia Department of Elections to notify local registrars of voters who were registered to vote in other states.

In both cases McAuliffe cited the “administrative burden” that would be put on localities, which was not an issue for the governor in 2016 when he attempted to rush the restoration of voting rights for more than 200,000 Virginia felons.

Add a bit more, and it’s rather clear what’s going on here.

For one thing, it turns out that Virginia is a state in which it’s rather easy for illegals to vote. Another problem is that there are precincts where there were more votes cast than registered voters. It would be fun to watch the governor explain that last one.

A Republican leader in the legislature responded to McAuliffe’s Thursday rejection by stating that he has observed for years “how hard Virginia Democrats work to protect the maximum potential for voter fraud.”

In spite of the governor’s protestations to the contrary, his state is definitely not an example of one with untainted elections. Not by a long shot.

With that established, the question becomes one of how long he can stonewall an investigation into his state’s role in this most vital part of our republic.

Source: Washington Free Beacon

Image: Kate Wellington