WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to prove conspiracy theories and false claims about voters, All Voting is Local Executive Vice President of State Campaigns and Programs Cynthia Travieso released the following statement:
“President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) McCarthy-era-like hunt is a waste of resources and a desperate and pathetic attempt to control elections by scapegoating immigrants and spreading lies which can keep specific groups from voting, including Black, Brown, and new Americans.
“This move by DHS to pull agents that investigate ‘such serious crimes as human trafficking and terrorism’ is based on false claims and debunked conspiracy theories that put thousands of American voters at risk of losing their voter eligibility. Equally outrageous is that the effort also risks potential privacy breaches due to the unclear use of driver’s license data, birthdates, and Social Security numbers. It’s especially ironic that President Trump’s DHS is expanding its immigrant voter hunt at the same time as the U.S. Postal Service’s purported effort to sabotage vote-by-mail, which would harm naturalized citizens who vote by mail at a rate of nearly 8 percentage points higher than native-born citizens. This is part of the blueprint that demonstrates how badly the White House administration wants to control our elections.
“States run elections, not the president and not DHS. State election officials have checks and balances in place to verify an individual’s voter eligibility and keep voter rolls accurate, and they work incredibly hard to ensure that every eligible voter can vote and that every vote is counted.
“Instead of fueling election conspiracy lies, the Trump administration should focus on protecting voters from barriers to the ballot. Any efforts otherwise are a desperate attempt to undermine the will of the people and sow confusion and distrust. We won’t let them gaslight us.”