Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap's suit argues that the election-fraud commission has run afoul of a 1972 law requiring transparency and balanced membership for such advisory groups. | Darron Cummings/AP Trump voter fraud panel sued by its own member The suit argues that the election-fraud commission has run afoul of a 1972 law requiring transparency and balanced membership.

President Donald Trump's beleaguered voter-fraud commission was hit with a new federal lawsuit Thursday, but this time from an unusual source: one of the panel's own members.

Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, one of four Democrats on the 11-member board, filed a suit claiming that he's being denied access to the commission's records and effectively frozen out of its activities.


The suit, which officials say is the ninth legal case filed against the panel, comes as questions are swirling about the commission's future and whether the Trump administration might simply abandon the effort.

A commission meeting in New Hampshire led to a high-profile dispute between the board's vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and another panelist, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, over allegations of voting by non-residents in the Granite State's first-in-the-nation primary.

Last month, another Democrat on the commission, former Arkansas state legislator David Dunn, died unexpectedly.

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Dunlap's suit argues that the election-fraud commission has run afoul of a 1972 law requiring transparency and balanced membership for such advisory groups, the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

"The Commission’s superficial bipartisanship has been a facade," the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington says. "The Commission has, in effect, not been balanced because Secretary Dunlap and the other Democratic commissioners have been excluded from the Commission’s work. The Commission’s operations have not been open and transparent, not even to the commissioners themselves, who have been deprived access to documents prepared by and viewed by other commissioners."

Dunlap also contends that he and the three other Democrats have been marginalized by a lack of a responsiveness from staffers in the office of Vice President Mike Pence, who serves as chair of the commission.

"The Commission’s failure to communicate with or involve Secretary Dunlap and other Democratic commissioners in proceedings renders them mere figureheads and violates FACA’s requirement that advisory committees be balanced," the suit says.

A spokeswoman for Pence's office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

However, Kobach issued a statement saying the suit is without merit.

"Secretary Dunlap's lawsuit is baseless and paranoid. In it, he complains that he didn't receive any correspondence from the Commission during the five weeks between September 12 and October 17. He assumes that correspondence regarding Commission business was occurring, but not being shared with him. Dunlap's assumption is incorrect. I did not receive any such correspondence either," the Kansas official and commission vice chair said.

Kobach acknowledged that the panel's substantive work essentially ground to a halt in recent weeks. He blamed the burden of defending against eight federal lawsuits challenging aspects of the panel's activities, the arrest of a commission staff member on child pornography charges, and the death of Dunn.

"It is not at all surprising that Commission staff were very busy during this period. Ironically, Dunlap's lawsuit is only going to increase the workload faced by Commission staff and Department of Justice Attorneys," Kobach wrote.

Dunlap said in a statement Thursday he filed the suit after the panel's executive director did not provide a substantive response to a request last month for access to the commission's records and information about planning for its next meeting. So far, the commission has met twice: a July session at the White House complex attended by Trump and a September meeting in New Hampshire.

“Since the Sept. 12 meeting, I have received no correspondence from the commission other than to acknowledge receipt of my information request,” Dunlap said. “Clearly, there is information about this commission being created and discussed, but I have no access to that information and it has not been provided upon request. My goal in filing this lawsuit is to bring the commission into full compliance with FACA, which would allow me and all of my fellow commissioners to fulfill our roles as full, participating members and provide a meaningful report to the President upon concluding our work.”

In August, a Justice Department lawyer handling another lawsuit against the commission apologized to a federal judge for a "misunderstanding" that led to the panel not living up to a pledge to post prepared materials online in advance of the board's July meeting.

Dunlap is represented in the new suit by American Oversight, a legal watchdog group formed by former Obama administration attorneys.