BREAKING NEWS: Pennsylvania Removes Itself from the Interstate Crosscheck System
On Reality Check with Charles Ellison (www.wurdradio.com) yesterday, Charles Ellison broke the news that the state of Pennsylvania had voluntarily removed itself from the Interstate Crosscheck System. No formal announcement had been made, but when Ellison — a long time strategist, analyst, Washington Correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune and Contributing Politics Editor for TheRoot.com — pressed Representative Chris Rabb about Pennsylvania’s participating in the voter purging and suppression program, Rep. Rabb revealed that the state had removed itself from Crosscheck back in April.
This comes as surprising and welcome news as courts have rejected efforts to prevent Kris Kobach and the Commission on Election Integrity from accessing personal data on voters from all 50 states in efforts to nationalize voter suppression through the Interstate Crosscheck System.
This system was designed and diffused to 30 states by Kris Kobach himself, and was responsible for the purging of over 1 million voters from registration rolls across the country just before the 2016 election. The majority of voters purged were Black, Latino and otherwise eligible to vote.
Of the 30 states to have signed on, 3 states — Florida, Oregon and now Pennsylvania — have already left the program. The Strategic Institute of Intersectional Policy has sent letters to all 27 Secretaries of State that still administer Crosscheck and requested that they remove themselves from the program immediately. This request reads:
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Re: Request for SoS’s to Immediately Withdraw from the Interstate Crosscheck Voter Purging System
Honorable Secretary of State:
A recent request made by Kris Kobach and the Commission on Election Integrity spawned an overwhelming response from Secretaries of State nationwide. 44 states formally refused to fully comply with his call for detailed voter information. Additionally, a number of lawsuits were filed in efforts to prevent the Commission from accessing these records.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of these same states have already turned over information to Kobach and the Commission by participating in the Interstate Crosscheck System.
The Crosscheck System, which was designed by Kris Kobach and adopted in total by 30 states, uses voter information to purge eligible voters from registration rolls. This program is rhetorically geared towards the prevention of voter fraud; however, in practice it has become a powerful tool of voter suppression.
For example, while only 40 cases of voter fraud have been validated since 2000, over 1.1 million people were purged from voter registration rolls just prior to the 2016 election. The overwhelming majority of these voters were Black and Latino.
If Kobach continues to receive the information provided through the Crosscheck System — millions more black and Latino voters will be stripped of their Constitutional Right to Vote in the elections to come.
More must be done to protect our voting rights and the Democracy that rests on them.
3 of the 30 states that have signed onto Crosscheck, three (Florida, Oregon and Pennsylvania) have already recognized the issues that Crosscheck presents to their citizens and exited the program. In order to defend one of the most fundamental rights in the nation, we are asking that the remaining 27 states follow suit.
The Strategic Institute of Intersection Policy is requesting that all Secretaries of State withdraw from the Interstate Crosscheck System immediately.
As the 2018 Midterm Elections approach, we are depending on the integrity of our Secretaries of State to ensure that all eligible voters are able to cast a vote. The Interstate Crosscheck System poses a threat to both the upcoming election and the fundamental right for all eligible citizens to cast a vote.
Thank you for recognizing the urgency of this matter.
Please send your reply to the following:
Dr. GS Potter, Executive Director c\o SIIP
PO Box 46414
Seattle, WA 98146–6414
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If you’d like to join the fight against voter suppression, the Commission on Election Integrity, and the Interstate Crosscheck System, you can find the contact information for Secretaries of State still participating in Crosscheck here.
SIIP is in the process of ramping up our efforts to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast a vote. More suggestions for action will be published soon. In the meantime, locate a Secretary of State on the list and encourage them to stand up to the right to vote and remove themselves form the Interstate Crosscheck System.
For more information on Crosscheck, the Commission on Election Integrity and the Fight to Re-enfranchise Suppressed Voters visit: http://strategycampsite.org/articles1.html
