Trump’s panel on voter fraud poses threat to access to polls

Sunday, May 21, 2017 | 2 a.m.

When President Donald Trump announced in February that he planned to put together a commission to investigate voter fraud, it was cause for concern but not necessarily for alarm.

Yes, Trump appeared to be acting out of hubris — showing he was willing to burn taxpayer dollars to prove his wacko claim that 3 million to 5 million illegal votes had been cast against him in 2016 — but then again there had been legitimate questions in Nevada and elsewhere as to whether voter fraud was occurring and, if so, to what extent.

Plus, given Trump’s birdcage of a mind, there was a chance he’d do a 180 on voter fraud or would shift his attention to some other shiny object and forget about the initiative.

But when Trump followed up earlier this month by naming Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as the head of the commission, things got scary.

Among voter’s-rights advocates — those who work to ensure that all Americans have equal access to the polls — Kobach is well-known and widely hated. He’s concocted some of the most restrictive voting measures in the nation, several times being rebuked in court for going too far, and he has been called “the king of voter suppression” by the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.

So with Kobach now running a commission tasked with determining whether changes are needed in voting laws, these are worrisome times for the kinds of voters who tend to be unfairly affected by restrictive voting policies — namely minority, lower-income and younger citizens. The same goes for those who understand that it’s patently un-American to either rob a citizen of the opportunity to vote or make the process so difficult that the person gives up.

Putting Kobach in such a position is like assigning the average seventh-grader to investigate whether teachers are giving out too much homework and parents are being too strict.

He’s been claiming for years that voter fraud is rampant, and he has gone from state to state working with fellow conservative Republicans to enact more repressive laws.

So you can bet that in the end, Kobach and his crew will say they’ve found support for Trump’s claims and will recommend changes in voting laws to shield the polls from illegal voters.

Never mind that study after study has shown no evidence of widespread voter fraud, or that a similar investigation during George W. Bush’s presidency came up empty and became a source of embarrassment for the administration.

Kobach’s commission will conclude that fraud is a problem and must be addressed.

The inescapable truth is that fraud does happen, which gives anti-immigration zealots like Kobach an opportunity to fan fear and press for restrictions.

But within that truth lies a bigger one: fraud happens very rarely. In Nevada, for instance, Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske revealed that her office had found cases of voter fraud from last November. But only three verified instances were uncovered. And Kobach, who became the only secretary of state with the authority to prosecute voter fraud 23 months ago by order of Kansas’ beet-red Legislature, has convicted exactly eight people of double-voting and one of voting before becoming a naturalized citizen during that time.

Gee, what great grounds to spend millions in taxpayer dollars to investigate fraud.

Actually, this is no time for sarcasm.

Kobach’s commission is a threat to our representative democracy, especially for voters in racially and economically diverse cities like Las Vegas.

With Republicans in several states having already passed more restrictive voting laws — such as limiting early voting periods, requirements for voters to show IDs, limiting absentee voting and curtailing voter registration efforts — Trump and the GOP majorities in Congress are now poised to kick those efforts up a notch.

And with Kobach at the head of a sham commission, they’ve found their point man.