Voter fraud commission to hold first meeting next week

07/07/17 02:12 PM EDT



President Trump’s voter fraud commission is getting together earlier than previously announced.

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was formed to investigate Trump’s claims of voter fraud in last year’s presidential election, will hold a public meeting next Thursday, according to a government notice published in the Federal Register on Friday.

A notice published earlier this week said the commission's first meeting would be held on July 19.

But on Friday a separate notice was published to announce the earlier meeting.

The commission asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia last week for extensive information on their registered voters, including full names and addresses, political party registration and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

As many as 44 states and the District have refused to turn over the documents, and regulatory experts told told The Hill that they believed the commission may have violated the law by not first running its request through a federal office that handles information requests for the government.

The administration argues the commission is not covered by those rules.

Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who heads Trump’s election commission, says only 14 states and the District had refused the commission's request.

The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center has reportedly filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s request. The group claims the government should have assessed privacy concerns before making the request, should be using a secured website to receive the information and should not make public partial Social Security numbers, The Washington Post reported.

The list of items to be discussed at the first meeting include the “Proposed Interim Enforcement Policy for ‘Volunteer mail’ Exemption," “Discussion of Commission’s Response to Alleged Foreign Interference in American Elections” and “Management and Administrative Matters.”

http://thehill.com/regulation/other/...ting-next-week