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Colorado Joins Other States, Refuses To Turn Over Private Voter Information

DENVER (CBS4)- Colorado has joined more than 20 other states in refusing to turn over sensitive information as part of President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission investigation.

In addition to names and addresses, the administration wants Social Security numbers and voting history for the last 10 years.

Colorado Goes To The Polls
Election judge Ed Wingfield of Denver, Colorado accepts ballots outside the Denver Elections Division offices on November 8, 2016. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams says it's not even a choice for Colorado to fully comply with the Trump Administration's request for voter data.

"My office is going to protect the confidentiality of things that are confidential under state law," said Williams.

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CBS4's Stan Bush interviews Secretary of State Wayne Williams (credit: CBS)

Earlier this week, state secretaries in all 50 states and Washington, DC were sent a letter from the chairman of the president's voter fraud commission Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

The commission was established after Mr. Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he only lost the popular vote because three to five million people voted illegally.

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(Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Some of the most populous states, including California and New York, are refusing to comply. There are 25 states that have said they refuse to comply with the president's orders.

But even some conservative states that voted for Trump, such as Texas, say they can provide only partial responses based on what is legally allowed under state law.

Colorado vote election generic ballot 2016
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The Trump Administration will have access to data on Colorado voters that is already available to the public, which includes voter history. But the request for information on Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and dates of birth will not be available.

"That's protected. It's protected from everybody, whether they're a journalist, whether they're the president, whether they're a political party, there's just some information that you don't get to have," said Williams.

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Kobach says even his home state of Kansas can't legally comply with all the requests he included in the letter. He says the administration wants to analyze vulnerabilities in the voting system.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, believes there is something more to it, "We will not let Donald Trump and right wing extremists use this as some covert plan to get data to make it harder for people to vote. We won't stand for it!"

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