Paul Bass Photo
Denise Merrill in the WNHH FM studio.
Donald Trump’s not trying to root out voting fraud. He’s trying to root out voters.
Denise Merrill brought that message Tuesday to Washington, then back home Wednesday on WNHH FM radio’s “Dateline New Haven” program, as she discussed threats to voting rights and opportunities to expand those rights.
Merrill, Connecticut’s secretary of the state, testified in D.C. Tuesday at a U.S. House Democrats’ hearing on Trump’s new Commission on Election Integrity (which she called “the most misnamed commission in United States history”) It was formed to investigate allegations (by Trump) that three to five million people voted illegally in 2016 presidential allegation. In truth, Merrill argued, that massive fraud never happened, and the commission’s true agenda is to purge rolls of black and Latino voters believed to support Democrats.
Merrill has just finished a term as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. In that role, she organized a bipartisan message from all the secretaries of state to oppose the White House’s efforts to submit personal data on all voters for a central database; and to argue that states should remain in control of administering elections and protecting voting rights.
“What is this list all about? Why are they collecting all the voter identification in the country in one place in the basement of the White House? That raises deep concerns for me,” Merrill said in the WNHH interview. Democratic and Republican secretaries of state alike have vowed to resist the request.
“What this commission did that raised everybody’s hackles is that they asked for all this information from the states, who are the keepers of these lists. Secretaries of this state take this job very seriously. They think it’s their job to provide security for voters of their states. You’re really treading on their turf,” Merrill said.
Asked how elections will change in, say, 10 or 20 years, she envisioned voters being able to cast ballots at any number of countywide voting locations. There, they would encounter airport-style kiosks: “You go in and type and address, and you get the ballot for you,” streamlining and personalizing the process. She also has pushed for early voting and mail-in voting, which other states have experimented with.
But none of that can happen without a referendum on a constitutional amendment allowing for changes in the elections, a quest that Merrill has pushed once, only to have voters turn it down. She vowed to keep trying.
Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Denise Merrill on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven” program.