Why Trump's quest to find elusive evidence of voter fraud has united defiant red and blue states

It's a rare moment in U.S. politics when Republicans and Democratsunite in oppositionto the same governmentpolicy.

But the requestfromDonald Trump's new Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity for states to turn over voter data to the federal government has triggered just that.

"They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico," Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said in a statement. "And Mississippi is a great state to launch from."

The Democratic response has been equally colourful.

"There's not enough bourbon here in Kentucky to make this request seem sensible," said Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's secretary of state.

'Just get the facts on the table'

The backlash started after Kris Kobach, the commission's second-in-command behind Vice-President Mike Pence, sent a letter to the states asking for a list of voter data including:

• Full name, address and dateof birth.
• Political party affiliation.
• Last four digits of social security number.
• Voting history over the last decade.
• Criminal record.
• Whether the voter is registered in another state, is a member of the military or an overseas citizen.

The commission says it's simply trying to root out election fraud by looking for vulnerabilities in the voting process, and that it's only requesting information that's publicly available under state laws.

"Why not collect evidence and just get the facts on the table? That would be a good service to the American public. Period," Kobach said in an interview with NPR.

But officials from more than 40 states have pushed back, saying they won't hand over any or will only provide some of the data. They argue it's a federal intrusion on state rights, and many are concerned about the commission's motivation for asking for the information. Somealso doubt the commission willprotect the data properly.

Trump reacted in a tweet last Saturday, writing: "Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished voter fraud panel. What are they trying to hide?"

'Alternative election facts'

Trump's tweets are part of the problem.

A few weeks after the presidential election, he tweeted that he would have won the popular vote in addition to his electoral college victory if "you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

He made the widely debunked claim without presenting any evidence that large-scale voter fraud occurred, and none has yet beenfound.

"Studies show that voter fraud exists in the United States, but just barely," said David Becker, executive director of the Washington-based Centerfor Election Innovation and Research. "It's not zero, but it's not much more than zero."

Critics say Trump is trying to use the commission to find proof to support his own allegation.

"At best, this commission was a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts, and at worst, it's a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression," Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said in a statement.

'Voter rolls aren't up to date'

In response to such accusations,Kobachpoints out the federal governmentdoesn't have the power to knock people off voter rolls.

But the commission's database could still result in people being unfairly prevented from voting, according to ChrisCalabrese, a vice-president at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

He said the commission will likely compare the voter data with information on other government lists, such as those used to verify an individual's immigration status.

• White House to launch probe into debunked claims of voter fraud
• Experts scrutinize Trump's claims of election rigging

The commission couldtell state officials that its analysis shows a particular individualisn't supposed to be on the voter roll.

This couldhappen, for example, if the commission's data comparison shows the personis registered to vote in two states.

The trouble with this approach, Calabrese says, is such lists are always in flux and out of date. Thedata is constantly changing for a variety of reasons, such as people becoming citizens, moving and dying, so there's plenty of room for error and mischief.

"What we've seen is an effort to say if you're not registered in the right place then you're attempting to commit fraud, even though there's no real evidence of that," he said. "The voter rolls aren't up to date, which isn't the same as someone trying to vote fraudulently."

Bully pulpit?

The commission's membership has also given critics ammunition.

Kobach, for example, was a member of the Trump transition team and has been described as a "voter fraud vigilante."

He spearheaded the passage of tougher voting measures in his home state of Kansas.

TheSAFE Act requires voters to show a birth certificate, passportor naturalization papers to cast a ballot.The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the lawas an attempt at voter suppression, arguing it discriminates against minorities and low-income residents.

Kobach is also running to begovernor of Kansas, and he's gotten himself into some trouble for allegedly highlighting his commission role while out on the campaign trail. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Lawhas filed a formal complaint against him for allegedly violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits a federal employee fromexploiting hisposition for electoral purposes.

And with Pence at the helm, there's added concern the commission is partisan.

"Not only is the project half-baked, it's pre-cooked," said Justin Levitt, a former deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.

"If it's led by partisan elected officials, then it becomes a bully pulpit to press for legal change using massively inflated allegations that don't really follow the facts."

The 'wolf on the doorstep'

The commission, however, is pushing ahead despite the opposition.

"This is a process where we have to keep our eyes focused on the objective of protecting U.S. elections," commission member Ken Blackwell said on CNN Thursday.

But Becker of theCenterfor Election Innovation and Researchargues the commission is focusing on the wrong issue.

After all, he says, there's no proof of widespread voter fraud in the last election, but there isa strong consensus that Russia interfered in it.

"The Trump White House seems singularly unconcerned about this major threat," he said.

"When you're spending federal taxpayer money chasing a wild goose when there's actually a wolf on your doorstep that's not wise."