WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Matthew Dunlap, what about this larger concern that has been raised by some people that this commission and its mission is going to be used to justify further national crackdown on voting rights? What do you make of that?
MATTHEW DUNLAP: That’s one of my favorite questions to get out of all of this, is that somehow we’re trying to undo the electoral process.
My position is, is that you have these lingering questions that have been around for a while now about illegal activity around elections. Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant. I have full confidence that everything that’s been claimed will probably be largely debunked.
And what we will find will probably be the product of mistakes and errors and unintended actions that were never meant to become felonies. So I think, you know, with that understanding, I think we’re going to find that we have a really pretty good system that’s very, very decentralized, which actually adds to its level of security against some of the allegations that we have heard about, like the Russian Federation getting involved in hacking our elections.
I think the systems that we have in place, which are run by local election officials, actually will be found to work very, very well, and that American voters should feel pretty good about the systems that help us elect our leadership and decide issues.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Michele Reagan, you heard Matthew here say that he believes the commission will largely debunk many of these claims.
But just today, the co-chairman of the commission, Kris Kobach, said on MSNBC that he says, we may never know whether or not Hillary Clinton in fact won the popular vote. That is an implication that is very likely the potential that three million illegal votes were cast.
Is the head of the commission is making that kind of a statement, does that concern you at all about the thrust of this commission?
MICHELE REAGAN: What really concerns me is the good work that the commission could be doing. And I hope — and I have high hopes that they will look forward to some of these suggestions that states are making.
Quite unimpressive answers.