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WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to set up a commission to study his unproven allegations of voter fraud in last year's presidential election, as he continues to grapple with the fallout from his abrupt and controversial firing of FBI Director James Comey.
The commission will be chaired by Vice President Pence, who will be joined by up to 15 other members appointed by the president. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has advocated for some of the most restrictive election laws in the country, will serve as the commission's vice chair.
"The president's committed to the thorough review of registration and voting issues in federal elections,'' said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. "And that's exactly what this commission is tasked with doing.''
Trump, who lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 2.9 million votes, has claimed that last year's election included up to 3 million to 5 million fraudulent voters — but there is no evidence to back this assertion.
Trump's executive order creating the "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity'' comes as Democrats and other critics accuse him of firing Comey to obstruct an ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russians who tried to influence last year's election.
The president is planning a visit to the FBI headquarters in the coming days to calm the waters, administration officials said. But the unexpected announcement of the new commission — which was not on Trump's public schedule for the day — might be seen as a way to distract from the firestorm unleashed by the Comey firing earlier this week.
Voting rights advocates blasted the new executive order, calling it a distraction that doesn't address pressing issues such voter suppression.
“We hold grave concerns about this commission and the impact that it will likely have on minority communities across our country,"  said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “In our view, President Trump has launched this commission to create a distraction from actual threats to our democracy, including ongoing voter discrimination, voter suppression and Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.”
Meanwhile, federal and state election officials from both parties have disputed Trump's claims of massive voter fraud. They say there have been few, if any, incidents of people voting when they were not registered – or voting by people who were not American citizens.
"Every election is going to have issues, but I don’t think that three to five million people voting illegally was one of those issues," said Thomas Hicks, then-chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission said in January in USA TODAY.
Election officials have said they worry Trump’s claims could shake the faith of voters, particularly at a time when the FBI and Congress are investigating whether Russia interfered in last year’s presidential election.
For his part, Trump has stood by his claim.
"We'll see after the committee," Trump told Time magazine in March. Trump had originally been expected to sign the executive order creating the voter commission in late January, but it has been consistently been put off.
The order calls for the commission to study the "vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting.''
The advisory commission  set up to "promote fair and honest federal elections'' will hold public meetings and meet with federal state and local officials as well as election experts, according to the order. The commission is expected to present a report to the president next year.
"The experts and officials on this commission will follow the facts where they lead,'' Sanders said.
But voting rights advocates expressed doubts. Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, called the commission “a sham and a distraction.’’
Brennan released a recent national report that disputed Trump's claims of massive fraud. Of 23.5 million votes cast in 42 jurisdictions in last year's general election, about 30 were incidents of suspected noncitizen voting, the report found.
"All studies, including our own, have shown that voter fraud is vanishingly rare,'' Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, said in a statement.  "And, the myth of voter fraud has been the justification for restrictive voting laws for years, serving to roll back access to our democracy for people all across the country."
Voting rights advocates say the administration should focus on making access to the polls easier instead of unfounded claims of voter fraud. They argue some lawmakers are using the claim to ramp up more restrictive election laws.
States, mostly controlled by Republican legislatures, have adopted more election laws, including voter ID, in recent years. Supporters say they help protect against voter fraud.
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Voting rights advocates also took aim at Trump's appointment of Kobach to the commission. Kobach, a conservative, has been in legal battles in Kansas over some of the state's election laws, including one requiring voters to prove their citizenship before voting.
"No commission with Secretary Kobach at the helm can be taken seriously," said Clarke from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Other commission members include Republicans such as Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson; Ken Blackwell, former Secretary of State of Ohio; and Christy McCormick, a commissioner on the Election Assistance Commission. Democrats include Bill Gardner, New Hampshire’s Secretary of State and Maine secretary of State Matthew Dunlap.
Clarke said she's surprised to see Trump follow through on his promise to set up the commission considering the lack of evidence. “It’s also disappointing that nowhere in this executive order… is there any sensitivity to this administration’s obligation to enforce federal rights law,'' she said. "There is no reference to voting discrimination or voter suppression. Those words simply do not appear."
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called the commission a waste of taxpayer money.
"Instead of supporting an investigation into fake issues like voter fraud that pose no threat to the country, the Trump administration should support an investigation into real issues that do, real issues like Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, campaign collusion and cover-up, and voter suppression and intimidation,'' Richmond said in a joint statement with Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Trump's order, however, could get support from some Republican lawmakers, who have welcomed a federal investigation into allegations of voter fraud.
“Safeguarding our democracy requires fair and accurate elections,” said Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., chairman of the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal elections.
Contributing: Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY
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