Maryland Officials Deny Trump Panel's Voter Data Request

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on Monday said the Maryland State Board of Elections should not comply with a White House panel's sweeping request for voter data.

He said in a statement that assistant attorneys general have advised the board that doing so would be "prohibited by law."

Accordingly, State Board of Elections Administrator Linda Lamone sent the panel a letter denying the request.

Head of Maryland Board of Elections denies request of Trump Election Comm for voter info. Her letter: pic.twitter.com/NUgsV0mgD9 — Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) July 3, 2017

Last week, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity asked secretaries of state about two weeks to provide about a dozen points of voter data. That includes names, party affiliations, addresses and voting history, as well as dates of birth, the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers and any information about felony convictions and military status.

"I find this request for the personal information of millions of Marylanders repugnant; it appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President [Donald] Trump's fantasy that he won the popular vote," Frosh, a Democrat, said.

Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton but has alleged, without evidence, that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally. In addition to the voter information, the letter asks state officials for suggestions on improving election integrity and to share any evidence of fraud and election-related crimes in their states.

"Repeating incessantly a false story of expansive voter fraud, and then creating a commission to fuel that narrative, does not make it any more true," Frosh said.

He said there was no evidence that Maryland's 2016 election, or any state's election, was compromised, and urged Gov. Larry Hogan and elections officials to vociferously reject the panel's efforts.

Watchdog group Common Cause Maryland last week urged officials not to comply with the request.

Some of the most populous states, including California and New York, are refusing to comply. But even some conservative states that voted for Trump, such as Texas, say they can provide only partial responses based on what is legally allowed under state law.

“Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?” Trump said in a tweet Saturday.

Given the mishmash of information Trump’s commission will receive, it’s unclear how useful it will be or what the commission will do with it. Trump established the commission to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 elections, but Democrats, like Frosh, have blasted it as a biased panel that is merely looking for ways to suppress the vote.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a Democrat who is a member of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, defended the request Friday. He said the commission expected that many states would only partially comply because open records laws differ from state to state.

“If only half the states agree, we’ll have to talk about that. I think, whatever they do, we’ll work with that,” said Gardner, adding that the commission will discuss the survey at its July 19 meeting.

It’s not just Democrats bristling at the requested information.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican serving his third term, said in a statement he had not received the commission’s request.

If he does receive it?

“My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” he said. “Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state’s right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes.”

No state election official planned to provide the commission with all of the information requested — even Kansas, where commission vice chairman Kris Kobach is secretary of state. He sent the letter asking for the names, party affiliations, addresses, voting histories, felony convictions, military service and the last four digits of Social Security numbers for all voters.

A spokeswoman for Kobach’s office said the last four digits of Social Security numbers are not publicly available under Kansas law and would not be handed over. That was the case in many other states, noted in statements from top election officials and responses to queries from reporters for The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.