The co-chair President Barack Obama appointed Tuesday to help lead the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Robert F. Bauer, said during the 2012 election that voter ID laws are a Republican tactic to suppress lawful votes.
During the 2012 election, the Obama team tapped Bauer to lead the legal teams for the campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Among his initiatives: fighting voter ID laws enacted by a number of states in an effort to combat voter fraud. During his time as the team’s organizer, Bauer told the Associated Press that he believes that the GOP is enlisting these new laws to impede the right to vote.
“The Republican Party and their allies have mapped out their vote suppression campaign as a response to our success in 2008 with grass-roots organization and successful turnout,” Bauer said. “This is their response to defeat: changing the rules of participation so that fewer participate.”
Before his work on the campaign, Bauer served as Obama’s general consul from 2009 to 2011.
The White House announced the appointment of ten individuals to the commission, which was formed “to identify non-partisan ways to shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and provide better access to the polls for all voters.” Leading the commission alongside Bauer is Co-Chairman Benjamin L. Ginsberg.
Bauer’s co-chairman, Ginsberg, is the former consul to Republicans George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. His legal advice helped Bush win the Supreme Court case Florida decision that sent him to the White House.
It is unclear exactly how much power the commission will have to implement these voting reforms.