Lankford: Election Assistance Commission Must Stop Promoting Partisan Election Group Information Immediately

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today sent a letter to the chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) after being made aware that the independent commission is using data from political and activist resources. The EAC is supposed to be an independent, bipartisan commission charged with providing resources for free and fair elections by voting or by volunteering. 

Lankford wrote in the letter, “On January 19^th, one of the most consequential days in the history of the United States Senate, the Fair Elections Center put out a press release advocating for senators to not only support the Senate Democrats’ latest bill to impose a federal takeover of elections, but also to support Democrats’ effort to change the filibuster. For the EAC to promote this entity that supported an effort to strip the rights of the minority party of the Senate and therefore the votes of millions of Americans across the country is a gross misappropriation of US taxpayer dollars.”

You can view the full letter HERE and below: 

Dear Chairman Palmer: 

The US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is supposed to be an independent commission charged with providing resources to the American people so that they may participate in free and fair elections by voting or by volunteering.  

Providing information to the American people for how to volunteer and engage in this core democratic process should not be partisan.  One of the resources the EAC currently has on its website is information for how to be a poll worker as part of National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.  

I was alarmed to find that the section of your website that provides information for how to be a poll worker reads: “Work Elections, a project of Fair Elections Center, provided some of the lookup tool data to the EAC.”

On January 19^th, one of the most consequential days in the history of the United States Senate, the Fair Elections Center put out a press release advocating for senators to not only support the Senate Democrats’ latest bill to impose a federal takeover of elections, but also to support Democrats’ effort to change the filibuster.  

For the EAC to promote this entity that supported an effort to strip the rights of the minority party of the Senate and therefore the votes of millions of Americans across the country is a gross misappropriation of US taxpayer dollars. Not only is the information deliberately partisan, it is also extremely activist in nature.  It is unacceptable for an independent organization like yours to use content from such a political and activist organization. It is imperative that the EAC not only remove all references and links to the Fair Elections Center, but must also immediately part ways with this hyper-partisan organization and stop utilizing their data and information. 

The EAC must ensure that our elections are fair, all eligible voters are able to cast a ballot, and that the American people have confidence in the results of our elections.  Promoting such a partisan entity flies in the face of this mandate.

In addition to having their partisan organization promoted by the EAC, does the Fair Elections Center have access to and retain information of those who seek to be poll workers through the EAC’s website?  Has the EAC entered into a contract with the Fair Elections Center?  If so, please explain the nature of the contract in terms of the duration, scope, cost and how the contract was awarded.   

I look forward to your prompt response and action to address this serious issue. 

In God We Trust, 

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