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| Charlestown's peripatetic state representative Blake "Flip" Filippi |
“I was not surprised
to learn that President Trump has dissolved his Presidential Advisory
Commission on Election Integrity,” said Gorbea, in a statement to reporters.
“It was clear from the
start that this commission was an attempt to distract voters from the real
dangers in our election systems – lack of funding for modernization and
security, including cyber threats from foreign actors,” she continued. “The
commission was plagued with open meeting violations and transparency issues.
From the beginning, it faced multiple legal challenges, including one from a
member of the commission.
Gorbea noted she
“refused to release voters’ private information and did not comply with the
commission’s overly broad request for data.”
Marion offered a
similar sentiment.
“It’s good the
‘Commission’ was shut down,” he told RI Future. “It was a misguided effort,
based on the false premise that millions of illegal votes were cast in 2016.
There are real improvements that need to be made to elections in the United
States, but that Commission was doing little, if anything, to address them.”
Common Cause issued a report on Trump’s voter fraud commission in September that also echoed the comments of Gorbea and Marion.
“Instead of addressing
real problems like Russian hacking and solutions that improve security and
accessibility, the commission was always a partisan vehicle to justify
President Trump’s baseless lies about why he lost the popular vote,” said Common Cause in a statement yesterday.
“This commission was flawed from the start, led by the wrong people pushing the wrong agenda. We are pleased that the commission has been dissolved, although we are not backing down from any of our efforts to ensure that every eligible American can vote and have their ballot counted as cast.”
“This commission was flawed from the start, led by the wrong people pushing the wrong agenda. We are pleased that the commission has been dissolved, although we are not backing down from any of our efforts to ensure that every eligible American can vote and have their ballot counted as cast.”
Local conservative
politician Ken Block, founder of the so-called Monderate Party who later ran
for governor as a Republican, was involved with Trump’s voter fraud commission.
Block contends because he identified some 200 Rhode Islanders who are registered to vote at non-residential addresses that there could be widespread voter fraud in Rhode Island. Election officials and open government advocates routinely accuse Block of misrepresenting data for political purposes.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I hope Ken Block's list contained Charlestown state Representative Blake "Flip" Filippi whose address keeps changing. He recently been thought to have moved from Block Island (or maybe Lincoln or Providence) to a new house he bought in Charlestown. However, his recent Christmas e-card gives Block Island as his return address.
Block contends because he identified some 200 Rhode Islanders who are registered to vote at non-residential addresses that there could be widespread voter fraud in Rhode Island. Election officials and open government advocates routinely accuse Block of misrepresenting data for political purposes.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I hope Ken Block's list contained Charlestown state Representative Blake "Flip" Filippi whose address keeps changing. He recently been thought to have moved from Block Island (or maybe Lincoln or Providence) to a new house he bought in Charlestown. However, his recent Christmas e-card gives Block Island as his return address.
Bob Plain is the editor/publisher of Rhode Island’s Future. Previously,
he’s worked as a reporter for several different news organizations both in
Rhode Island and across the country.