Kobach Says He Didn’t Mean It When He Said Voting Rolls Would Be Publicly Disclosed

Paragraph 5 in this declaration:

For voter roll data, I intended that the states use the Safe Access File Exchange (“SAFE”), which is a secure method of transferring large files up to two gigabytes (GB) in size. SAFE is a tested and reliable method of secure file transfer used routinely by the military for large, unclassified data sets. It also supports encryption by individual users. My letters state that “documents” submitted to the Commission will be made available to the public. That refers only to the narrative responses. With respect to voter roll data, the Commission intends to de-identify any such data prior to any public release of documents. In other words, the voter rolls themselves will not be released to the public by the Commission. The Commission intends to maintain the data on the White House computer system.

(My emphasis.)

The original letter certainly did not explain any of this:

You may submit your responses electronically to [email protected] or by utilizing the Safe Access File Exchange (“SAFE”), which is a secure FTP site the federal government uses for transferring large data files. You can access the SAFE site at https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe/Welcome.aspx. We would appreciate a response by July 14, 2017. Please be aware that any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public. If you have any questions, please contact Commission staff at the same email address.

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