For Immediate Release: May 11, 2017
Contact: Ricardo A. Ramírez, 202-728-9557
rramirez@advancementproject.org
Advancement Project’s Statement on Executive Order Establishing “Election Integrity” Advisory Commission
Washington – Today Donald Trump issued an executive establishing an “Election Integrity” Advisory Commission charged with promoting “fair and honest” Federal elections. Advancement Project, a national civil rights and racial justice organization, released the following statement:
“It is not lost on anyone that this commission is being established to shift the narrative,” said Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director of Advancement Project’s national office. “Still, it must be reiterated: Every credible study of voting practices confirms, time and again, that our system is strong. Governors, secretaries of state, and other elected officials on both sides of the aisle have already agreed that Trump’s claims of voter fraud are a farce. What is a problem is that opponents of voting rights are attacking our voting process. Instead of pushing for free, fair elections, they are deliberately attempting to make it harder to vote – especially for communities of color. These efforts harken back to some of the ugliest periods in our history, when people of color, especially Black people, had to fight our way to the ballot with our own bodies and our very lives. The real fraud is the attempt by opponents of voting rights – following this administration’s lead – to kill the right to vote.”
###
Advancement Project is a multi-racial civil rights organization. Founded by a team of veteran civil rights lawyers in 1999, Advancement Project was created to develop and inspire community-based solutions based on the same high quality legal analysis and public education campaigns that produced the landmark civil rights victories of earlier eras.