On May 11, President Trump signed an Executive order creating a Presidential Commission on Election Integrity. The commission is aimed at investigating alleged voter fraud. Vice President Mike Pence will chair the group; Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) will serve as vice chair.

The panel will be tasked with studying “vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for Federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent registrations and fraudulent voting.”

A White House spokesperson said the panel would also include Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R), former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R), New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner (D), Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D), and Christy McCormick, an Obama-appointed Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission.

“We can’t take for granted the integrity of the vote,” said Vice President Pence, adding that the commission would “review ways to strengthen the integrity of elections in order to protect and preserve the principle of one person, one vote.”

Democrats in Congress and voting rights advocates criticized the commission as unnecessary and a thinly veiled attempt to back up the President’s claim that millions of people voted illegally in 2016. They also voiced concern about its effect on minority communities.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY-D) said, “The voter commission is a clear front for constricting the access to vote to poor Americans, older Americans, and — above all — African Americans and Latinos.”

Critics also objected to the choice of Kris Kobach to help lead the commission. Kobach was the driving force behind a new Kansas voter ID law.

“Selecting Kris Kobach as vice chair reveals exactly the kind of discriminatory witch hunt the American people can expect from this commission,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA-D). “The President’s election integrity commission is clearly intended to accelerate the vile voter suppression efforts in States across the union.”

The commission is expected to hold its first meeting in the next few months and issue a report before the 2018 elections.

For more background, see the October 2013 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “Reconsidering the Voting Rights Act,” the February 2008 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “Voter ID Laws,” and the November 2006 issue of Congressional Digest on “Voting Integrity.”