A Trump Administration panel seeking voter registration data from all 50 states told those states Monday to hold off finding and supplying the data after a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the move.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said he planned to supply Colorado data to the panel, which says it wants to investigate ballot fraud. Williams said he planned only to release publicly available data.
The ACLU and Electronic Privacy Information Center filed the lawsuit.
Here's the letter sent to secretaries of state from Andrew Kossack at the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
As you may know, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint seeking a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) in connection with the June 28, 2017 letter sent by Vice Chair Kris Kobach requesting publicly-available voter data. See Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Until the Judge rules on the TRO, we request that you hold on submitting any data. We will follow up with you with further instructions once the Judge issues her ruling.
And here's the context from NPR:
Although the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, led by [Vice President] Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, has held only an initial meeting by telephone since it was created two months ago, that first meeting was not open to the public, the ACLU charges. "Since the [law] applies to all meetings, even telephonic meetings, the commission has already violated [the Federal Advisory Committee Act]," ACLU staff attorney Theresa Lee tells NPR.
Williams said that Colorado law required that his office supply publicly-available data to anyone who asks, including the White House. But as CPR reported earlier, the Colorado ACLU has urged Williams from the outset not to comply.
“Williams should refuse to cooperate in every way possible, providing nothing that is not required by law, objecting to the purpose of this request, and making it no easier than necessary for [Vice President Mike] Pence and [Kansas Secretary of State Kris] Kobach to assemble their database,” said Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado.
