Res. No. 1515

Resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s establishment of a federal “Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” and reaffirming support for the promotion of legislative efforts nationwide that enable, rather than suppress, voter participation in elections

By Council Members Constantinides, Lancman, Salamanca and Cohen

Whereas, Robust voter participation in elections is essential to ensuring the successful functioning of a democracy; and

Whereas, Recent history has demonstrated that claims of voter fraud have predicated legislative efforts to suppress voter participation in elections; and

Whereas, A 2013 North Carolina statute establishing strict voter identification requirements, which the Fourth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals invalidated in July 2016 as unconstitutionally discriminatory, was enacted by legislators claiming a need to protect election integrity; and

Whereas, However, nationwide academic and media studies have found negligible rates of credible claims of voter fraud; and

Whereas, A 2014 Loyola Law School study published in the Washington Post found only thirty-three credible claims of impersonation voter fraud between 2000 and 2014, out of more than one billion ballots cast; and 

Whereas, The New York City Board of Elections Executive Director testified to the City Council in both October 2016 and May 2017 that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in New York City and only one investigation arising from the 2016 election cycle; and

Whereas, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that more than three million non-citizens voted in the 2016 presidential election and on May 11, 2017, established a federal “Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” to investigate these claims of widespread voter fraud; and

Whereas, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was appointed vice-chair of the “Advisory Commission on Election Integrity;” and

Whereas, Kobach is a vocal advocate of stricter voter identification laws and has made unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud, which demonstrates the commission's mission to further voter suppression efforts nationwide; and

Whereas, Unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud undermine public confidence in the electoral process, and justify pernicious laws that create needless and discriminatory obstacles to voter participation; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York condemns President Donald Trump’s establishment of a federal “Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” and reaffirms support for the promotion of legislative efforts nationwide that enable, rather than suppress, voter participation in elections

LS #10977

6/5/2017

[JDK]