12 July, 2017
The commission to investigate U.S. President Donald Trump possible election fraud on Monday put a halt on its effort to collect sensitive voter data from states in the face of growing legal challenges.
The bipartisan panel, led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, asked the 50 US states for a host of voter data, including birth dates and the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers.
Under state law, some information - such as a voter's driver's license number, social security information and date of birth - is confidential.
The Trump administration's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has suspended its request for voter information from the Alaska Division of Elections.
In New Hampshire, two state lawmakers and the state's ACLU chapter are suing Secretary of State Bill Gardner (D) to prevent him from turning over information to the probe.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson and SoS Mark Martin said last week the state was sending only part of its voter data to the Trump Commission.
The lawsuit alleges that the commission failed to ensure that submitted data would be secure.
Kollar-Kotelly was expected to decide Friday on the appeal for a temporary restraining order with regard to voter data requests.
"The legislature carefully designed strict restrictions on the sharing of voter information for good reason: to protect voter privacy", he said in a statement.
A presidential commission established through an executive order signed in May will download and store requested voter-roll data on White House computers under the guidance of Vice President Mike Pence's office, The Washington Post reported Thursday. EPIC's case isn't about the commission itself but rather how the data will be stored. "Lawson might be a member of this panel, but her first duty is to the Hoosiers who trusted her with personal information so that they could participate in fair and free elections in the state".
