Trump's voter-fraud panel wants to look into Russian hacking, too

Source: The Boston Globe



By Annie Linskey GLOBE STAFF JUNE 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — Two members of a presidential commission charged with investigating alleged voter fraud want the panel to focus on what could be the biggest fraudulent scheme of all: attempted Russian hacking of numerous state election systems.

The call, by the secretaries of state in New Hampshire and Maine, presents a potential change in direction for a special commission that has widely been seen as a political smoke screen to justify the president’s unfounded claims about widespread fraud by individual voters in places like New Hampshire and California.

Experts have dismissed Trump’s claims of ineligible voters faking their way into ballot booths as lacking evidence and overblown, the stuff of conspiracy websites. A focus on Russian hacking, however, would put additional attention on the topic of Vladimir Putin’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, an issue that Trump’s White House has vigorously sought to downplay.

“There’s stuff coming out now that states were hacked in this election,” said New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a member of the commission, when asked what the scope of the group’s work should be. He said he’d be surprised if New Hampshire was targeted, given its use of paper ballots.

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/06/22/members-trump-vote-fraud-panel-want-look-into-russian-hacking-well/8WNJUvB0Y08fWiNE5OQGhN/story.html