After over two months of silence, there was a blip of activity from President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission this week when a commissioner sent an email requesting information on voter fraud prosecutions by the Department of Justice and suggested the agency was not pursuing those types of cases vigorously enough.
J. Christian Adams, a commissioner and former DOJ official, sent an email to Andrew Kossack, a federal official charged with the panel’s administration, and copied all of the other commissioners Monday. He asked that Kossack request an annual public report from DOJ on election crimes as well as voter fraud cases the department has pursued over the last decade.
“As far as I can tell, there has not been a single prosecution whatsoever for any double voting or any non-citizen voting. I know with certainty that multiple instances of double voting and alien voting have been brought to the attention of the appropriate federal officials, and no action has been taken. Of course when you don’t prosecute crimes, you tend to have more crimes,” Adams wrote.
The email is significant because it is the only recent sign of action from the commission, according to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D), who forwarded the message to HuffPost; it also reveals one avenue of inquiry the panel may pursue. Even the panel’s own commissioners have said they have no idea what it is working on or what it will eventually recommend to Trump. Several studies and investigations have shown voter fraud is not a widespread issue.