Donald Trump obsesses over his defeat in the 2020 election and is paranoid about possible congressional losses in the upcoming midterm elections. As a result, he has weaponized the United States Justice Department to try to prove his unfounded allegations and discredit potential midterm defeats.
Meanwhile, he continues to drop hints about nationalizing elections while making the baseless charge that the only way Democrats can win is if they cheat. One of his administration’s efforts to subvert elections has reached West Virginia.
The Justice Department is suing West Virginia and at least two dozen other states to try to force them to turn over private voter data. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the legal action is about “election integrity,” but it is really a fishing expedition to try to gin up evidence, no matter how inconsequential, that the administration can use to discredit election outcomes they don’t like.
Fortunately, West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner, along with top election officials in many other states, are fighting back. Warner has told the Justice Department he will turn over the same public voter registration information available to anyone, but he will not disclose private data, including voters’ Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, emails, or phone numbers.
Warner will not comment on the issue now that a federal lawsuit is pending, but he did say in a release prior to the lawsuit, “West Virginians expect secure elections and the assurance that their personal information is protected. That remains my commitment, and I have no interest in turning over the entire State’s unredacted voter list for some brownie points from the federal government.”
Good for him. Know that Warner is no RINO. He is a lifelong Republican, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, a former Trump delegate to the nominating convention, and even a onetime Trump appointee as state Director for USDA Rural Development. In a state where Trump is exceedingly popular, the easy route would be to kowtow to the heavy hand of Trump’s Justice Department, which Warner has refused to do.
The bad old days of corrupt West Virginia elections are a distant memory. The Secretary of State’s office for the last nine years under Kris Warner, and before him his brother Mac Warner, has worked with the 55 county clerks to clean up the state’s voter rolls. Over 400,000 names have been removed for a variety of reasons—they have died, moved away or were ineligible to vote.
And don’t think those 400,000 people have been voting. The cross-checking that takes place by resolute poll workers every election means it is extremely difficult for illegal votes to take place.
As a result, West Virginia continues to responsibly fulfill its constitutional obligation (Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1) of prescribing the “times, places and manner” of holding elections for federal officers. Recent history dictates that West Virginians can be confident that voting here is free and fair.
Donald Trump’s constant attempts to bend the law and democratic norms to his whims are a threat to the integrity of the republic. The only bulwark to the precipitous slide is when other individuals in power, particularly members of his own party, put their legal and constitutional responsibilities above fealty to an individual.