Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann will not comply with a request from President Donald Trump’s administration asking for detailed voter file information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birthdates.
Hosemann, a Republican who did not endorse Trump during the presidential campaign, said his office has not yet received a letter from the administration. But he said if and when he does receive one, he will reject it outright. Hosemann is the one of the first Republican secretaries of state in the country to publicly reject the commission’s request, joining several Democratic colleagues in bucking the request.
“They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” Hosemann said in a statement on Friday. “Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”
All 50 secretaries of state received a request for the information in a letter this week from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as vice chairman for Trump’s new Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
The letter seeks the information to “study the registration and voting processes used in federal elections” that may “undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of federal elections processes.”
The commission’s request asks for the full names of registered voters, their dates of birth, registered addresses, voting history, and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers – all dating back to 2006.
Kobach was fined $1,000 by a federal judge last week for making “patently misleading representations” about documents he took to a November meeting with Trump that relate to federal voting law.
He told the Kansas City Star on Thursday that the personal data would be hosted on a secure server run by the federal government, and that the request for Social Security numbers was meant to ensure one person isn’t registered more than once.
Hosemann successfully won a 2014 federal case on the argument that state voter file information should be kept private and not shared with the federal government. He has gone to great lengths since the November presidential election to assure the public that there was no voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election.
Hosemann: ‘Mississippi elections are not rigged’
Twenty-two Mississippians sponsored by Texas-based True the Vote filed a federal lawsuit against Hosemann and the state of Mississippi in 2014, seeking birth dates of Mississippi’s 1.8 million registered voters. Many of those 22 plaintiffs were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who narrowly lost the Republican primary runoff to U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. McDaniel earned more votes than Cochran in the primary.
In court and in public, Hosemann pushed back, calling the lawsuit “ill conceived, incoherent, misguided, poorly drafted, filed in the wrong court and probably politically motivated,” saying all voter file information was available to anyone after properly redacting the voter’s birth date and social security numbers.
“The Mississippi Legislature enacted a law to protect your birth date and social security number from public dissemination,” Hosemann said in a statement in July 2014. “This out-of-state company (True the Vote) wants your birth date or wants you, the taxpayer, to pay the redacting and copying for them. Your locally elected circuit clerks are following the law.”
The federal district court ruled in Hosemann’s favor, tossing the case and stating the state restrictions on providing voter identification did not violate the federal voting rights act.
Hosemann touted the smooth election process last fall.
Election recap: Turnout down, 99 percent had IDs
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Good. Kobach is an idiot and this is a snipe hunt. They shouldn’t waste one penny of state money on this nonsense.
The dash cam video has been edited and intered into Federal Court which is tampering with evidence If we don’t prosecute the ones that edited the dash cam video we will never stop police brutality. Felicia Adams the US Attorney in Oxford Mississippi was investigating this and Trump replaced her and the new US Attorney has dropped the investigation. I have have turned over my evidence to the 3 National News networks and one is interested in the doing a story on this. They used the cloud based storage system that allows Law enforcement to remove the parts of the video that they don’t want the public to see. The highway patrol used this to we edit the dash cam video in my case, where the highway patrolman, Bradley Edmondson Tore two ligaments into that resulted in two surgeries to repair my shoulder, the doctor had to cut an inch off my collar bone and put a wire and a screw to pull it up high enough to sew the ligaments back together. The same cloud based storage was used in Albuquerque New Mexico where they killed the homeless man that was camping illegally. the US Attorney in Albuquerque is proscuting that case. Everyone should be afraid of this because If they are using this to edit body cameras in Albuquerque and the two deputies that are trying to help me said that they have been editing these for years. If anyone can help me get this on the national news, contact me at jerrydfowler49@gmail.com, or call. 662-251-8726. All I want is for someone to meet with me and look at my evidence. For more information on this email or call me.
We are the United States of America, and according to the Constitution this is illegal!! We are ONE NATION, therefore you cannot join with other states anywhere or about anything!!!
Have you even read the Constitution that you are referring to? I only ask because if you have, then you must have skipped over the Amendments dealing with States rights.
Yes I have Section 1 Article 10, so what amendment are you speaking of?
So… you’re against states rights to determine where marijuana and assisted suicide are legal?
You’re for the Federal government’s right to make gay marriage legal in every state? And for the Federal government to enforce health insurance regulations on all states?
Just checking…
I am saying what the Constitution says, I won’t get into my beliefs!!
Do you think the Constitution says that the Federal government can mandate health insurance and gay marriage?
I want voter fraud cleaned up so I am for doing what ever is necessary. but, sorry to tell you states do have right Ever thing is not left to the federal government The federal government was to be a small gov not a ballooned one costing every citizen much much money
I think Delbert Hosemann should jump into the Gulf of Mexico first
You may want to seek immediate medical attention for your severe retardation. I feel sorry if you have any kids and how feeble-minded they must be with your genetics
I agree. What has Hosemann ever done that was impressive? He got elected with an ad that shows him conversing with a woman who couldn’t pronounce his last name. There was no credibility in his being Secretary of State. Now he he an embarrassment to Mississippi, and must have delusions of grandeur. We won’t get much help when needed, with an official making such idiotic comments.
What are his “delusions of grandeur,” Catherine? Doing his job? Pushing for early voting and online voter registration (which the legislature and governor have rejected each time it’s been brought up)?
The SoS is an “embarrassment” to Mississippi because of his concerns over a crosscheck scam? Not the neuveau-Klan members in the state legislature calling for lynchings because they’re in their feelings over confederate participation trophies. A governor who says working moms are making our kids dumb, or saying that a new school funding formula would force schools to teach “transgender education?” Or the head of the MDA touting Natchez’s millionaires per capita during the 1700’s-1800’s (he forgot about that whole slavery thing)? Or simply perusing the social media accounts of lawmakers and state-run organizations in Mississippi in general? That’s a pretty low bar, Catherine.
Let me just say I don’t understand why a state official would be so violently opposed that they would make what in my view is an unprofessional and embarrassing comment. We have persons who get elected, and once elected it seems we are stuck with them, whether they are effective and reliable or not. Since there has been evidence of “fixed votes” in the past in presidential elections in other states, it seems we would be in favor of an investigation that would make elections reliable and legal. We have nothing to hide in Mississippi since voter ID was provided. But in other states there has been evidence of voter fraud, and if we want that voter fraud eliminated why are we opposed to cooperating with the request? Maybe I am missing something, but bucking something legitimate by telling people to jump in the Gulf makes no sense to me, and neither does insulting the president who provided assistance to our state after disasters.
Your comment regarding Roger Wicker reminds me that we never wanted him to begin with, but he was forced on us by the governor who refused to let us vote. The Attorney General stated emphatically that for Haley to do that was illegal, and Haley did it anyway. Thus, we were stuck with Wicker. Many of us never wanted Wicker, don’t want him now, and wish someone who would be effective in the Senate would defeat and replace him. And Cochran should have been defeated in the last election by McDaniel, who would have done a great job as Senator, but corrupt tactics used to defeat McDaniel were vile, and unfortunately succeeded in reelecting Cochran, who in my opinion was, and is, a disgrace. But, that is all just my opinion, of no importance, and just the thoughts of a tax-paying citizen who is tired of corruption.
“We have nothing to hide” is a weak argument when the current administration is asking for names, addresses, party affiliation, and social security numbers via a man with a history unethical tactics of removing voters from voter rolls.
Mississippi has investigated and prosecuted two people for voter fraud in the last 17 years. The SoS investigates and presents findings when a candidate or citizen files a complaint of alleged impropriety. Other states had fraud” is a weak argument.
If you think McDaniel is senator material, I don’t know what to tell you. His extensive history of authoring legislation for specialty car tags and commendations for Jones County schools extracurricular activities really prepares him for the position. Another swing and miss.
But hey, you’re entitled to your opinion and you did a great job posting your thoughts here.
…..a Mississippi official that has enough integrity to buck the b——e, from Washington…..hallelujah, there must be someone up there watching over us…thanks Delbert.
There is no evidence of voter fraud … and we intend to keep it that way ( no evidence, that is)
When there has been evidence of fraud, people have been convicted and gone to jail. There have been two convictions in Mississippi since 2000.
Keep up the good work!
I’m sure Philbert was thrilled with this news. After all, he did spend the last week begging GOP donors to raise $10k for Dolt45 to show him that Mississippi was “Trump strong.”
Secy Hosemann is an official with a spine and conscience not to be bulldozed by oppressive Federal Government.
Congratulations, Sec. of State Hosemann, you are runner-up for best quote on the voter data request. The grand prize winner goes to Kentucky’s Sec. of State, Alison Grimes, with this gem:
“There’s not enough bourbon here in Kentucky to make this request seem sensible,”
I think Mr Horsemann should prove to the panel that he does not have voter fraud in his state. Just because he does not like President Trump is no reason to give away our country to foreign and non citizens and unsavory people. Get busy and clean up your voter rolls. If only 99% had ID then their could be voter fraud .What about those people? Were they even ask if they were a citizen
This Delpert is an embarrassment to the Great State of Mississippi.
Give it up Delpert and retire .