Krebs: Trump commission can buy South Dakota voter data

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Secretary of State Shantel Krebs says that a presidential commission investigating election fraud can purchase South Dakota voter information.

Krebs wrote in a letter last week to the commission that the fee for South Dakota’s statewide voter registration file is $2,500. President Donald Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity sent one request in June and another in July after a court said the data collection could move ahead.

Krebs initially declined to share voter information with the commission, but wrote in the letter to vice chairman Kris Kobach that the second request asked for information that’s available to anyone under state law. She wrote that driver’s license and Social Security numbers and full birthdates would be redacted and included a form to request the data.

Krebs wrote that the commission’s first letter said that documents submitted to the panel would be made available to the public, but South Dakota law prohibits information in the voter registration file from being posted in a way that allows for unrestricted access online. The commission later clarified that it wouldn’t publicly release personally identifiable voter information from submitted records, she wrote.

Krebs wrote that she agrees with Trump that ensuring the highest integrity and security in elections is necessary. She suggested that the panel consider a nationwide voter crosscheck administered by state officials and encourage citizens to be poll workers and observers.

Krebs also highlighted that South Dakota uses paper ballots and doesn’t have Internet connections to tabulating equipment or online voting, moves that she said prevent hacking.

“I am again encouraged that the Commission would look to South Dakota and Secretaries of State across the nation for ways to improve election integrity,” she wrote.