Remarks at a Meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity

Please be seated. Thank you. Mr. Vice President, distinguished guests, and members of the media: I'm honored to welcome you here today as the bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity prepares to conduct its first official meeting. Very, very important.

This Commission is tasked with the sacred duty of upholding the integrity of the ballot box and the principle of one citizen, one vote. Every time voter fraud occurs, it cancels out the vote of a lawful citizen and undermines democracy. Can't let that happen. Any form of illegal or fraudulent voting, whether by noncitizens or the deceased, and any form of voter suppression or intimidation must be stopped.

I'm pleased that more than 30 States have already agreed to share the information with the Commission. And the other States, that information will be forthcoming. If any State does not want to share this information, one has to wonder what they're worried about. And I asked the Vice President, I asked the Commission, what are they worried about? There's something. There always is.

This issue is very important to me because, throughout the campaign and even after it, people would come up to me and express their concerns about voter inconsistencies and irregularities, which they saw, in some cases, having to do with very large numbers of people in certain States. All public officials have a profound responsibility to protect the integrity of the vote. We have no choice. We want to make America great again, we have to protect the integrity of the vote and our voters.

This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue, it's an American issue. It's about the concern of so many Americans that improper voting is taking place and canceling out the votes of lawful American citizens. That is why President Theodore Roosevelt once said, "It is the affair of every honest voter, wherever born, to see that no fraudulent voting is allowed" anywhere.

I want to thank Vice President Pence for chairing the Commission. I also want to thank Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for serving as Vice Chair. It's going to be a lot of work. They're going to work very hard over a fairly short period of time. And I want to thank you both very much—Kris, Mike.

This is a bipartisan panel consisting of both Republican and Democratic leaders and experts on voter integrity. I would like to personally thank each of our panel members for serving. Really do appreciate it.

In addition to the Chair and Vice Chair, this distinguished bipartisan panel includes: Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson—thank you; New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner—thank you; Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap—thank you; former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell; Election Assistance Commissioner Christy McCormick—thank you; former Arkansas State Representative David Dunn—thank you, David; Wood County, West Virginia, Clerk Mark Rhoades; Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative—a real expert—Hans von Spakovsky; President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation—great group—J. Christian Adams; and Jefferson County, Alabama, Probate judge, Alan King. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Each of you has been entrusted with the great responsibility of helping to advance the cause of fair, honest, and lawful elections. Your work will help protect our democracy. This will be a very transparent process. It's going to be very open for everybody to see. You will approach this important task with a very open mind and with no conclusions already drawn. You will fairly and objectively follow the facts wherever they may lead.

I look forward to the findings and recommendations your report will produce, and I share your report as soon as I can and as soon as possible with the American people so the full truth will be known and exposed, if necessary, in the light of day. We call on every State to give its full support and total cooperation in this effort. Most of them have really done brilliantly, and we appreciate it. And the rest, all of that information will be forthcoming.

Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President. Thank you. And, Kris, thank you. Panel, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Do a great job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.