Nevada to comply with voter fraud probe

Nevada’s top election official said Friday the state will provide public voter information requested by a White House commission that is investigating claims of voter fraud in the 2016 election, but it will not turn over information such as Social Security numbers of voters and who people voted for.

Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said she has directed her office to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Nevada will provide voter names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, party affiliation and turnout — information that anyone can request because it is public.

The commission asked every state on Wednesday to turn over about a dozen categories of voter data if state law says it is publicly available. The request also seeks information that many states including Nevada consider confidential, such as voter email addresses, their Social Security numbers and which candidates they selected on ballots.

Cegavske said she will shield voters’ private information but release the public data.

Nevada is among about 20 states that plan to cooperate but will not provide everything that was requested. Other states responding like Nevada include Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus pressed state officials to refuse to comply with the entire federal government request in a letter on Friday, echoing several Democratic election chiefs in other states who have said the mass request for sensitive information invades privacy and is based on false claims of fraud.

“It is inappropriate to use state resources to soothe the President’s ongoing insecurities about his own election,” Titus, a Democrat, wrote to Cegavske and Gov. Brian Sandoval, both Republicans. “I urge you to defend the integrity of Nevada’s elections and protect Nevada voters from being used in a political ploy to assuage the President’s paranoia.”

Hillary Clinton won Nevada in the presidential election with 47.9 percent of the vote to Trump’s 45.5 percent.