Columbia, SC – South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson released the following statement thanking the South Carolina Election Commission for refusing to provide the personal voter data requested by the Pence-Kobach Commission and condemning South Carolina Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick for announcing that he will personally provide much of the requested information:
“I thank the members of the State Election Commission for refusing to provide South Carolinians’ personal information to the Trump Administration’s sham voter suppression commission, despite the fact that Republicans like Henry McMaster wanted the Election Commission to violate state law for partisan ends. This decision reaffirms the Election Commission’s nonpartisan role in administering our elections fairly, nonpartially, and with integrity. Hopefully the nationwide bipartisan resistance to the Trump Administration’s voter suppression efforts will make them abandon this shameful project.
“However, I am dismayed by the announcement by my Republican counterpart, Drew McKissick, that he plans to provide our personal voter data to the Kobach commission to assist them in finding a pretext for disenfranchisement. The possession of such sensitive information by this disgraceful group endangers our civil liberties, threatens our voting rights, and undermines confidence in our elections. South Carolina Democrats, independents, and Republicans who put country over party will continue to fight so that all eligible South Carolinians can exercise their right to vote, which previous generations sacrificed so much to secure.”
