A member of President Donald Trump’s commission on election integrity said the panel should have known the American public would have been outraged by a request for voters’ personal information. 
 
 “The fullness of experience being what it is, we should have predicted it,” Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said in an interview on Wednesday. 
 
 Meanwhile, the vice chairman of the commission, Kansas secretary of state and gubernatorial hopeful Kris Kobach, issued a defiant statement via the office of Vice President Mike Pence, who is co-chairing the panel on Trump’s behalf. 
 
 The commission, which Trump has specifically called a “voter fraud panel,” has spooked citizens and public officials alike. The crux of the fear: What critics have called an overly broad and invasive request for details about Americans’ registrations, party affiliation, participation in elections, military and criminal histories and even partial Social Security numbers. 
 
 “When I heard the news reports, you know, it sounded like the commission was going to propose rounding people up,” Dunlap said. 
 
 Nearly every state in the union has now refused to comply, entirely or in part, with a major data request issued by the panel’s vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. 
 
 Even Dunlap himself isn’t providing the requested data to the commission on which he serves, because Maine law won’t allow it. 
 
 But in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon through Pence’s office, Kobach insisted that “While there are news reports that 44 states have ‘refused’ to provide voter information to the Commission, these reports are patently false, more ‘fake news.’” 
 
 Kobach continued: 
 
 At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission’s request for publicly available voter information. Despite media distortions and obstruction by a handful of state politicians, this bipartisan commission on election integrity will continue its work to gather the facts through public records requests to ensure the integrity of each American’s vote because the public has a right to know. 
 
 The panel’s request “deals with how people participate in election and that’s something that people are very very protective of,” said Dunlap. 
 
 He said his office has gotten “hundreds and hundreds of e-mails uniformly saying things like, ‘Don’t you dare turn my Social Security number over to the federal government.’ A little ironic, since that’s where it comes from, but ... people are very concerned.” 
 
 The data request — which is in part causing consternation because the panel’s plans haven’t really been laid out and because Kobach has developed a reputation as a hardliner on voter registration issues — “is something that people feel very viscerally about,” Dunlap said. 
 
 “That’s been borne out by the reaction that we’ve gotten, and I think that you’ve seen across the country on a very, very nonpartisan basis. Republicans and Democrats seem to feel the same way about it.” 
 
 During a recent conference call, members of the panel discussed “the idea of getting some gauge on how many people actually are registered to vote in more than one state — which, by the way, is not [itself alone] against the law,” Dunlap said. 
 
 “And what we talked about was that it should be a request; it should not be a demand, and it should only include that information that could be made publicly available.” 
 
 Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been picked to help lead a new commission on election fraud. Orlin Wagner/AP 
 
 Because the commission hadn’t officially met to begin business, Dunlap said the letter signed by Kobach and sent to all 50 states wasn’t first vetted by other panel members. 
 
 As for the reaction, Dunlap said, “some of that speaks to the politics of all this because it’s the Trump administration and Kobach, who has a very electric reputation, shall we say. I think people just immediately reacted that ‘This is all a sham and don’t do this to me.’” 
 
 But Dunlap, a Democrat, thinks the panel does have potential to make a positive statement about protecting voting rights: 
 
 “The most useful thing that could come out of it is having the open discussion about the right of people to vote and the opportunity to vote and the security of elections,” he said. “And when you’re talking about enhancing security, that you don’t inadvertently put almost insurmountable barriers in front of people in participating in elections.” 
 
 The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, concerned about the potential for voter intimidation, last month opened a hotline for the public to report future run-ins or concerns with the panel once it begins its work. It has also campaigned for citizens to contact their state officials who operate elections to “demand they condemn this massive federal overreach and protect your private data.” 
 
 The committee also this week filed two federal complaints against Kobach, questioning whether he had misused his vice chairmanship of the presidential panel to promote and raise money for his 2018 run for Kansas governor. 
 
 In response, Kobach spokeswoman Samantha Poetter said via email on Wednesday, “We are certain that no Hatch Act violations have occurred. This is nothing but a bunch of liberal lawyers trying to create a story.” 
 
 The Lawyers’ Committee is now opening a fresh line of questioning ahead of the panel’s first official meeting later this month by “using a unique tool that requires the commission to make materials immediately available for inspection.” 
 
 That tool is the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It dates back to 1972 and is “legal foundation defining how federal advisory committees operate,” including requirements for holding open meetings and making information public about how such groups operate. 
 
 In a Monday letter to the voter panel, the White House counsel’s office and the Office of Administration, the Lawyers’ Committee requested details about all communications related to the panel since May 11: 
 
 “This commission has been operating in the darkness and its actions have been shrouded in secrecy,” Lawyers’ Committee President Kristen Clarke said in a statement on Wednesday. 
 
 “Through today’s action, we seek to shine light on [its] activities.” 
 
 A notice posted in the Federal Register on Wednesday gave details for the first meeting of the election integrity commission, which is set for July 19 in Washington, D.C. 
 
 The notice specifies the gathering will be accessible to the public — but just via a White House livestream — and that “there will not be oral comments from the public at this initial meeting.”’ 
 
 July 5, 2017, 6:32 p.m.: This story has been updated. ||||| Washington (CNN) A Trump administration letter requesting data from all 50 state's voting rolls has put some states and voting rights advocates on edge after many were already wary of the aims of the President's commission on voting. 
 
 The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity's vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, sent a letter to each state Wednesday asking a series of questions soliciting feedback about election administration, voter fraud and the integrity of the process. CNN obtained a copy of the letter sent to Maine's secretary of state. 
 
 Kobach also requested that each state provide "publicly available voter roll data" as allowed under each state's laws, which could include full names of registered voters, dates of birth, party registration, last four digits of Social Security numbers and voting history. 
 
 The letter was discussed on an organizational call of the commission, according to a White House readout and spokesman Marc Lotter. 
 
 As of Friday afternoon, at least 27 states had publicly expressed reservations or legal barriers to turning over all of the requested information, particularly with regard to the privacy of social security numbers, according to a CNN inquiry to all 50 states. Several others, including South Carolina and Arkansas, had not yet received Kobach's letter. 
 
 President Donald Trump attacked the states Saturday on Twitter, suggesting they could be hiding something. 
 
 "Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?" he tweeted. 
 
 Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017 
 
 Some state officials began coming out Thursday in opposition to the request -- concerned that it was evidence of an agenda by the Trump White House and dismissing it as "politically motivated and silly posturing," per Virginia's governor. 
 
 "I have no intention of honoring this request," Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said in a statement. "Virginia conducts fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in Virginia. This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November. At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts, and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression." 
 
 Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said of Kobach's letter: "My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from. Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state's right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes." 
 
 The Connecticut secretary of state, Democrat Denise Merrill, said she would share information that is publicly available "in the spirit of transparency," while also protecting private voter information. But she also criticized Kobach's track record and expressed concern in an ulterior motive. 
 
 "In the same spirit of transparency, we will request that the Commission share any memos, meeting minutes or additional information as state officials have not been told precisely what the Commission is looking for," Merrill said. "This lack of openness is all the more concerning, considering that the Vice Chair of the Commission, Kris Kobach, has a lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas." 
 
 Civil rights and voting rights advocates were also concerned. Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt, a former Obama Justice Department official, blasted the request from Kobach as "massively irresponsible" and questioned whether it might run afoul of certain laws, in a post on the legal blog Take Care. 
 
 Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who is a member of the commission, said his state would review the request under state law. He also confirmed to CNN that the commission discussed the request on its organizing call and agreed to send the letter ahead of its first meeting. 
 
 "There was no objections raised in the organizational call to asking for this information and beginning the fact-finding process," said Lotter about the controversy in response to the letter. "It's just requesting public information. ... As the President's executive order says, the commission is going to look at issues that could cause fraudulent or not-current voter registration, which could lead to improper voting, as part of a holistic look at the election systems and what can be done to maintain the integrity but also in some cases strengthen the integrity and security of that information moving forward." 
 
 As Kansas secretary of state, Kobach has been a leading voice nationally in trying to combat voter fraud, which studies have shown is statistically close to nonexistent. He has also become a lightning rod for controversy and a target of voting rights activists. 
 
 Kobach pioneered a national cross-referencing system for states to check their voter rolls for overlaps. His critics have alleged the system is too prone to allowing legitimate voters to be purged from voting systems. He also fought in court for the ability to require verification of citizenship on voter registration forms, ultimately unsuccessfully. 
 
 Kobach has defended his actions, saying he is seeking to uphold the integrity of elections. Trump has repeatedly discussed a similar theme, decrying voter fraud as a large scale problem. He has made debunked and unsubstantiated claims about millions of illegal votes in the 2016 election. 
 
 The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was set up, ostensibly, to look into the possibility of vote fraud and the integrity of the system more generally. Vice President Mike Pence chairs the commission, which has four Democratic members so far. 
 
 Kobach's appointment as vice chairman rankled voting rights groups from the start, and Trump's addition to the commission of Hans Von Spakovsky, a Heritage Foundation scholar and longtime sparring partner for the groups, on Thursday only added to the concern. 
 
 Some members of the commission have said they hope to investigate Russian meddling in the election and the security of voting networks. 
 
 The voting commission has started to begin its work, with its organizational call this week and a scheduled first meeting later this month. Lotter said the goal of the commission is to have a report to the President within a year. ||||| Washington, DC (CNN) Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have refused to provide certain types of voter information to the Trump administration's election integrity commission, according to a CNN inquiry to all 50 states. 
 
 State leaders and voting boards across the country have responded to the letter with varying degrees of cooperation -- from altogether rejecting the request to expressing eagerness to supply information that is public. 
 
 Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach , vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity , which President Donald Trump created by executive order in May, sent a letter to all 50 states last Wednesday requesting a bevy of voter data, which he notes will eventually be made available to the public. 
 
 The order came months after Trump claimed without evidence that millions had voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election. When states began to express concerns about the legality of his administration's efforts to investigate voter fraud, Trump called them out on Twitter on Saturday, questioning whether they were hiding something. 
 
 "Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?" Trump tweeted. 
 
 Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide? 
 
 The information the commission is seeking includes registrants' full names, addresses, dates of birth, political parties, the last four digits of their social security numbers, a list of the elections they voted in since 2006, information on any felony convictions, information on whether they were registered to vote in other states, their military status, and whether they lived overseas. 
 
 The vice chairman's letter twice requests only "public" voter information, and Kobach clarified the specifics of his request Friday: "Every state receives the same letter, but we're not asking for it if it's not publicly available," he told The Kansas City Star 
 
 Kobach also told CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, "Whatever a person on the street can walk in and get, that's what we would like." 
 
 Kobach cited a Pew Center on the States study from February 2012 that called for revisions of state voter registration lists. 
 
 "The Pew Center estimated last year that 1.8 million deceased people are still on the voter rolls throughout the states," Kobach told Cooper. "They said that's an estimate. They think it's a low estimate. Now, for the first time, we can actually bounce the states' voter rolls against the Social Security administration's own database to find out how many of those people actually are on the voter rolls." 
 
 The Kansas secretary also addressed the criticism from several secretaries of state over the past few days that the commission might be seeking to legitimize Trump's assertions that widespread voter fraud cost him votes last November. 
 
 "First of all, the commission is not to prove or disprove what the President speculated about in January," Kobach said. "The purpose of the commission is to find facts and put them on the table. Importantly, it's a bipartisan commission." 
 
 But the commission, which is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, seemed to misunderstand voter privacy laws nationwide. Every state that responded to the commission's letter said it could not provide Social Security numbers, for example. Others said they consider information such as birth dates and party affiliations to be private. 
 
 What's more, Kobach asked states to supply the information through an online portal. Many states have rejected this specific request, noting that the commission should file a voter information request through established state websites, as any other party would. 
 
 As of Tuesday afternoon, two states -- Florida and Nebraska -- are still reviewing the commission's request. Another two states -- Hawaii and New Jersey -- have not returned CNN's request for comment. And while six states are still awaiting a letter from the commission, four of them -- New Mexico, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia -- have already pledged not to provide voters' private information. The other two of those six states, Arkansas and Illinois, have not released statements ahead of receiving the letter. 
 
 Just three states -- Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee -- commended Kobach's attempt to investigate voter fraud in their respective statements. 
 
 "We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions," said Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican. "I wish more federal agencies would ask folks for their opinion and for information before they made decisions." 
 
 Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, also a Republican, echoed Williams' sentiment in a statement Friday: "The commission's questions are fair and we will be glad to assist in offering our thoughts on these important matters," he said. "I look forward to working with Sec. Kris Kobach and the commission on its findings and offer our support in the collective effort to enhance the American people's confidence in the integrity of the elections process." 
 
 Other states were more critical. Nineteen openly criticized the commission's request. 
 
 "The President's Commission has quickly politicized its work by asking states for an incredible amount of voter data that I have, time and time again, refused to release," said Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler, a Republican, on Monday afternoon. "My response to the Commission is, you're not going to play politics with Louisiana's voter data, and if you are, then you can purchase the limited public information available by law, to any candidate running for office. That's it." 
 
 Mississippi's Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, also a Republican, took the criticism a step further. 
 
 "My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from," Hosemann said in a statement Friday. "Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our state's right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes." 
 
 Three state leaders also raised doubts about the integrity of the commission itself, and many questioned the existence of widespread voter fraud. 
 
 "This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November," Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said Thursday. "At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts , and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression." 
 
 "Given Sec. Kobach's history we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this Commission," Connecticut Sec. of State Denise Merrill, also a Democrat, said in a statement Thursday, pointing to what she alleged was Kobach's "lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas." 
 
 As Kansas' secretary of state, Kobach backed a national cross-referencing system to allow states to check their voter rolls for overlaps, which drew criticisms that the system was too prone to allowing legitimate voters to be purged from voting systems. Kobach also fought unsuccessfully in court for the ability to require verification of citizenship on voter registration forms. 
 
 State of Play: Where do the states stand? 
 
 Alabama: "This office will not share any information not already available to the public. ..." Secretary of State John Merrill said in a : "This office will not share any information not already available to the public. ..." Secretary of State John Merrill said in a statement Friday. "The Secretary of State's Office will comply with the request if we are convinced that the overall effort will produce the necessary results to accomplish the Commission's stated goal without compromising the integrity of the voter rolls and the elections process in Alabama," 
 
 JUST WATCHED Kobach comments on voter fraud commission Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Kobach comments on voter fraud commission 02:44 
 
 Alaska: The Division of Elections will release only public information, according to a : The Division of Elections will release only public information, according to a press release from Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott Friday. "State law allows only some information to be public. Public information does not include: last four numbers of SSN, date of birth, or residence address," among other data. 
 
 Arizona: "We will only make available the same redacted information that is available to the general public through a public records request," Secretary of State Michele Reagan said in a : "We will only make available the same redacted information that is available to the general public through a public records request," Secretary of State Michele Reagan said in a statement Friday. "Social security numbers, Date of Birth and identifying information such as Mother's maiden name will not be transmitted. Arizona's voters can expect to have their personal information remain private and safe." 
 
 Arkansas: "We have not yet received a letter. When we do, we will review it," Assistant Director of Communications and Education Chris Powell told CNN Monday, adding, "We're keeping an eye out for it." 
 
 California: "I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally. ..." Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a : "I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally. ..." Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement Thursday. "California's participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach. The President's Commission is a waste of taxpayer money and a distraction from the real threats to the integrity of our elections today: aging voting systems and documented Russian interference in our elections." 
 
 Colorado: "We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions. I wish more federal agencies would ask folks for their opinion and for information before they made decisions," Secretary of State Wayne Williams said in a : "We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions. I wish more federal agencies would ask folks for their opinion and for information before they made decisions," Secretary of State Wayne Williams said in a press release Thursday, which noted that his office will release voter-roll information that is public under state law but withhold data that is confidential. 
 
 Connecticut: "Given Secretary Kobach's history we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this Commission," Secretary of State Denise Merrill said in a : "Given Secretary Kobach's history we find it very difficult to have confidence in the work of this Commission," Secretary of State Denise Merrill said in a statement Thursday. 
 
 District of Columbia: "The best thing I can do to instill confidence among DC residents in our elections is to protect their personal identifiable information from the Commission on Election Integrity. Its request for voter information, such as social security numbers, serves no legitimate purpose and only raises questions on its intent. I will join leaders of states around the country and work with our partners on the Council to protect our residents from this intrusion," DC mayor Muriel Bowser said in a "The best thing I can do to instill confidence among DC residents in our elections is to protect their personal identifiable information from the Commission on Election Integrity. Its request for voter information, such as social security numbers, serves no legitimate purpose and only raises questions on its intent. I will join leaders of states around the country and work with our partners on the Council to protect our residents from this intrusion," DC mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement 
 
 Delaware: "Releasing this information to the White House would not serve the mission of safeguarding the fairness and integrity of elections in Delaware and would not be in the best interests of Delaware voters," said State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove said in a : "Releasing this information to the White House would not serve the mission of safeguarding the fairness and integrity of elections in Delaware and would not be in the best interests of Delaware voters," said State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove said in a statement Monday. Sec. of State Jeffrey Bullock echoed the sentiment in the same statement: "Delaware will not be a party to this disingenuous and inappropriate campaign against one of the nation's foundational institutions." 
 
 Florida: "We have received the letter. We are reviewing it," Director of Communications Sarah Revell told CNN Monday. The Florida Senate, meanwhile, has written : "We have received the letter. We are reviewing it," Director of Communications Sarah Revell told CNN Monday. The Florida Senate, meanwhile, has written letter in opposition to the commission's request. 
 
 JUST WATCHED States push back against voter fraud commission Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH States push back against voter fraud commission 02:20 
 
 Georgia: "The Georgia Secretary of State's Office will provide the publicly available voter list," Press Secretary Candice L. Broce told CNN Friday. "As specified in Georgia law, the public list does not contain a registered voter's driver's license number, social security number, month and day of birth, site of voter registration, phone number, or email address." 
 
 Hawaii: No response to CNN. 
 
 Idaho: "We are interpreting this as a public records request from the Commission," Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said in a : "We are interpreting this as a public records request from the Commission," Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said in a statement Monday. "As such, Idaho law requires me to respond ONLY with the non-exempt public records available under the request." The statement also noted that "while additional information is requested in the letter (such as driver's license and the last 4 of a voter's social security number), that information is NOT considered public and Secretary Denney could not be compelled, outside of a specific court order detailing the need for and intended use of such data, to provide that information under Idaho Public Records statutes." 
 
 Illinois: The Illinois State Board of Elections has not yet received the letter, a spokesperson told CNN Monday. 
 
 Indiana: "Indiana law doesn't permit the Secretary of State to provide the personal information requested by Secretary Kobach," Secretary of State Connie Lawson : "Indiana law doesn't permit the Secretary of State to provide the personal information requested by Secretary Kobach," Secretary of State Connie Lawson tweeted Friday. "Under Indiana public records laws, certain voter info is available to the public, the media and any other person who requested the information for non-commercial purposes. The information publicly available is name, address and congressional district assignment. 
 
 Iowa: "We will follow that process if a request is made that complies with Iowa law. ..." Secretary of State Paul Pate : "We will follow that process if a request is made that complies with Iowa law. ..." Secretary of State Paul Pate tweeted Friday. "However, providing personal voter information, such as Social Security numbers, is forbidden under Iowa Code." 
 
 Kansas: "Only "publicly available" information will be shared with the Commission," Secretary Kobach's spokeswoman Samantha Poetter told CNN Friday. "Any person in Kansas can obtain it. It is the basic information -- name, address, etc. -- not the sensitive information like last four SSN. That information is not publicly available, and therefore it is not part of the request." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Kobach: Not trying to prove Trump's claims Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Kobach: Not trying to prove Trump's claims 01:53 
 
 Kentucky: "As the Commonwealth's Secretary of State and chief election official, I do not intend to release Kentuckians' sensitive personal data to the federal government. ..." Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said in a : "As the Commonwealth's Secretary of State and chief election official, I do not intend to release Kentuckians' sensitive personal data to the federal government. ..." Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said in a statement Friday. "The president created his election commission based on the false notion that "voter fraud" is a widespread issue -- it is not. Indeed, despite bipartisan objections and a lack of authority, the President has repeatedly spread the lie that three to five million illegal votes were cast in the last election. Kentucky will not aid a commission that is at best a waste of taxpayer money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression efforts across the country." 
 
 Louisiana: "The President's Commission has quickly politicized its work by asking states for an incredible amount of voter data that I have, time and time again, refused to release," Secretary of State Tom Schedler said in a : "The President's Commission has quickly politicized its work by asking states for an incredible amount of voter data that I have, time and time again, refused to release," Secretary of State Tom Schedler said in a statement Monday. "My response to the Commission is, you're not going to play politics with Louisiana's voter data, and if you are, then you can purchase the limited public information available by law, to any candidate running for office. That's it." 
 
 Maine: "Maine citizens can be confident that our office will not release any data that is protected under Maine law, to the commission or any other requesting entity," Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said in a : "Maine citizens can be confident that our office will not release any data that is protected under Maine law, to the commission or any other requesting entity," Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said in a press release Friday. The statement noted that Maine law allows the release of the voter's name, year of birth, residence address, mailing address, voter status, voter record number and any special designations indicating uniformed service voters, overseas voters or township voters, but not Social Security number. 
 
 Maryland: "The assistant attorneys general representing SBE have considered the request and have determined the disclosure is prohibited by law," Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a : "The assistant attorneys general representing SBE have considered the request and have determined the disclosure is prohibited by law," Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a tweet Monday, adding in a second tweet , "I find this request repugnant; appears designed only 2 intimidate voters and 2 indulge the President's fantasy that he won the popular vote." 
 
 Massachusetts: The state's voter registry is not a public record and information in it will not be shared with the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Communications Director Brian S. McNiff told CNN Friday. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump defends claims on wiretapping Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump defends claims on wiretapping 02:18 
 
 Michigan: "As in most other states, Michigan law does provide for disclosure of some basic public voter information," Secretary Ruth Johnson's office said in a : "As in most other states, Michigan law does provide for disclosure of some basic public voter information," Secretary Ruth Johnson's office said in a Facebook post Monday. "Political parties, candidates and news organizations routinely request and receive this data. State law for decades has allowed anyone to review voter lists to ensure election integrity. ... Michigan will certainly not go beyond what is legally required in any response to this data request, and we are highly sensitive to people's desires to keep what is private as private." 
 
 Minnesota: "I will not hand over Minnesota voters' sensitive personal information to the commission," Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a : "I will not hand over Minnesota voters' sensitive personal information to the commission," Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement Friday. "As I've said before, I have serious doubts about the commission's credibility and trustworthiness. Its two co-chairs have publicly backed President Trump's false and irresponsible claim that millions of ineligible votes were cast in the last election. They, along with other recent appointees, appear to have a strong interest in steering the commission toward their predetermined conclusions and outcomes. I fear that the commission risks becoming a partisan tool to shut out millions of eligible American voters." 
 
 Mississippi: "My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great State to launch from," Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said in a : "My reply would be: They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great State to launch from," Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said in a statement Friday. "Mississippi residents should celebrate Independence Day and our State's right to protect the privacy of our citizens by conducting our own electoral processes." 
 
 Missouri: "The commission's letter asks for 'publicly-available' information, which we would share with any person or organization making an open records request,"Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said in a : "The commission's letter asks for 'publicly-available' information, which we would share with any person or organization making an open records request,"Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said in a statement Friday. "We will protect Missourians' private information. The laws of each state are different, and in Missouri, some of the data requested by the commission is open to the public. We plan to comply by providing publicly-available information per state law. The commission's questions are fair and we will be glad to assist in offering our thoughts on these important matters. I look forward to working with Sec. Kris Kobach and the commission on its findings and offer our support in the collective effort to enhance the American people's confidence in the integrity of the elections process." 
 
 Montana: Secretary of State Corey Stapleton won't release voters' birthdays or Social Security numbers to the president's commission on election integrity, director of elections and voter services Derek Oestreicher told the : Secretary of State Corey Stapleton won't release voters' birthdays or Social Security numbers to the president's commission on election integrity, director of elections and voter services Derek Oestreicher told the Independent Record Friday. 
 
 Nebraska: "The Secretary of State has not had a chance to review the request submitted," a spokesperson told CNN Monday. 
 
 Nevada: "While this request has understandably raised concerns with privacy advocates, voter registration information in Nevada is generally available for public inspection under state law, including name, address, date of birth, and whether the voter participated in a prior election," Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said in a : "While this request has understandably raised concerns with privacy advocates, voter registration information in Nevada is generally available for public inspection under state law, including name, address, date of birth, and whether the voter participated in a prior election," Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said in a statement Friday. "Election officials in Nevada do, however, collect certain information that is not considered a public record under state law and is therefore not available for public inspection. This information includes: Social Security Number; Driver's License Number; DMV Identification Card Number; and Email Address." 
 
 New Hampshire: "There's no information (here) someone can't publicly get anyway," Secretary of State Bill Gardner told the : "There's no information (here) someone can't publicly get anyway," Secretary of State Bill Gardner told the Concord Monitor Friday. "People have the right to purchase it, only what's public by law." 
 
 New Jersey: No response to CNN. 
 
 New Mexico: "My office has not yet received the letter from President Trump's election commission requesting the personal information of New Mexico voters," Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in a : "My office has not yet received the letter from President Trump's election commission requesting the personal information of New Mexico voters," Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in a statement Friday. "That being said, I will never release the personally identifiable information of New Mexico voters protected by law, including their social security number and birthdate. Further, I will not release any other voter information like names, addresses or voting history unless and until I am convinced the information will not be used for nefarious or unlawful purposes, and only if I am provided a clear plan for how it will be secured." 
 
 "It seems to maybe be a fishing expedition or a witch hunt of some kind, and I'm very concerned about that," Toulouse Oliver said Tuesday on CNN's New Day. 
 
 New York: "The electoral process is sacred and New York law has strong safeguards in place to prevent sharing of sensitive voter data and harassment against those who exercise their right to vote...New York refuses to perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election...We will not be complying with this request and I encourage the Election Commission to work on issues of vital importance to voters, including ballot access, rather than focus on debunked," said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a : "The electoral process is sacred and New York law has strong safeguards in place to prevent sharing of sensitive voter data and harassment against those who exercise their right to vote...New York refuses to perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election...We will not be complying with this request and I encourage the Election Commission to work on issues of vital importance to voters, including ballot access, rather than focus on debunked," said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a statement Friday. 
 
 North Carolina: "Integrity of our elections is critical, and a recent State Board of Elections investigation already found there was no evidence of significant voter fraud in North Carolina," Gov. Roy Cooper said in a : "Integrity of our elections is critical, and a recent State Board of Elections investigation already found there was no evidence of significant voter fraud in North Carolina," Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement on Twitter Friday. "My staff has told the State Board of Elections that we should not participate in providing sensitive information beyond what is public record as it is unnecessary, and because I have concerns that it is an effort to justify the President's false claims about voter fraud." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Attorney to Trump: Offer proof of voter fraud Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Attorney to Trump: Offer proof of voter fraud 02:12 
 
 North Dakota: In an email to CNN Friday, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Silrum said: "We will answer those questions on the survey that North Dakota law allows us to answer." 
 
 Ohio: "After each of the last three federal elections, I instructed the bipartisan boards of elections to conduct a review of credible allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression" Secretary of State Jon Husted said in a : "After each of the last three federal elections, I instructed the bipartisan boards of elections to conduct a review of credible allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression" Secretary of State Jon Husted said in a statement Friday. "The results of this review is already in the public domain and available to the Commission. Additionally, voter registration information is a public record and is available online. The Confidential information, such as the last four digits of a voter's Social Security number or their Ohio driver license number is not publicly available and will not be provided to the Commission. In responding to the Commission, we will have ideas on how the federal government can better support states in running elections. However, we will make it clear that we do not want any federal intervention in our state's right and responsibility to conduct elections. Every Sec. of State in the country should welcome the opportunity to describe what they do to ensure the integrity of the elections in their respective states." 
 
 Oklahoma: "Full or partial Social Security numbers are not publicly available under Oklahoma law," said Bryan Dean, public information officer for the Oklahoma State Election Board, in an email to CNN Friday. "We will provide the Commission with the publicly-available information they requested, just as we would anyone who requested the information. We are required to provide public information upon request under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. We commonly get requests for our voter list. I would estimate I get at least two or three requests per day for it. We have instructions available on our website for requesting that data." 
 
 Oregon: "Oregon policy prohibits disclosure of some of the information you requested, such as social security numbers and drivers' license numbers ..." Secretary of State Dennis Richardson said in a : "Oregon policy prohibits disclosure of some of the information you requested, such as social security numbers and drivers' license numbers ..." Secretary of State Dennis Richardson said in a letter Friday. "It is my duty to follow these statutes. Oregon law provides that any person may receive a statewide list of electors upon payment of $500. It is a violation of Oregon law for voter registration data to be used for commercial purposes." 
 
 Pennsylvania: "In addition, I have serious reservations about the true intentions of this effort in light of the false statements this administration has made regarding voting integrity, the historical suppression of voting rights, and the way that such data has been used in the past ..." Gov. Tom Wolf said in a : "In addition, I have serious reservations about the true intentions of this effort in light of the false statements this administration has made regarding voting integrity, the historical suppression of voting rights, and the way that such data has been used in the past ..." Gov. Tom Wolf said in a letter Friday. "That said, like any citizen, you are welcome to purchase the publicly available voter file from the Pennsylvania Department of State. It can be purchased at pavoterservices.pa.gov for $20." 
 
 Rhode Island: "We are reviewing Secretary Kobach's request for information" Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea said in a : "We are reviewing Secretary Kobach's request for information" Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea said in a statement Friday. "I will safeguard the privacy of Rhode Island voters and respond only with data that is already publicly available. I will not release social security information or any information that was requested by Secretary Kobach regarding felony status, military status, or overseas citizen information." 
 
 South Carolina: "By law, the SC Election Commission maintains the list of registered voters for all 46 counties (1/3) ... They are required to make the list available to the public upon request and Social Security numbers are never disclosed (2/3) ... Constitution ensures voters ballot choices will always be secret. Americans have died protecting this freedom (3/3)," Gov. Henry McMaster : "By law, the SC Election Commission maintains the list of registered voters for all 46 counties (1/3) ... They are required to make the list available to the public upon request and Social Security numbers are never disclosed (2/3) ... Constitution ensures voters ballot choices will always be secret. Americans have died protecting this freedom (3/3)," Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted in a string of statements Monday. According to The Post and Courier , however, South Carolina officials had not received a letter from the commission as of Friday. A senior official confirmed to CNN Monday evening: "The SC Elections Commission is responsible for the data but the governor is supportive of making all public information available to the president's advisory committee. All information that is readily available to the general public should be made available to the committee." 
 
 South Dakota: Secretary of State Shantel Krebs' spokesman, Jason Williams, said : Secretary of State Shantel Krebs' spokesman, Jason Williams, said in an email to the Associated Press that Krebs "will not share voter information with the commission." 
 
 Tennessee: "Although I appreciate the commission's mission to address election-related issues, like voter fraud, Tennessee state law does not allow my office to release the voter information requested to the federal commission," : "Although I appreciate the commission's mission to address election-related issues, like voter fraud, Tennessee state law does not allow my office to release the voter information requested to the federal commission," tweeted Secretary of State Tre Hargett. 
 
 Texas: According to the Associated Press on Friday, Texas election officials will provide public voter information to the election commission. While Secretary of State Rolando Pablos didn't list what records would be sent to the commission, he said in a : According to the Associated Press on Friday, Texas election officials will provide public voter information to the election commission. While Secretary of State Rolando Pablos didn't list what records would be sent to the commission, he said in a statement he will protect private information. 
 
 Utah: "Ensuring the integrity of the election process is the highest priority of my office," Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox said in a : "Ensuring the integrity of the election process is the highest priority of my office," Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox said in a statement Friday. "There has been no evidence of mass voter fraud in Utah and we look forward to helping the federal government better understand the steps we have taken to ensure the security and validity of Utah's elections. ... While my office is required to provide public records to this Commission, as we would to any other person or entity, I assure the voters of Utah that we will only provide information that is otherwise available to the public." 
 
 Vermont: "I wholeheartedly disagree with premise of this Commission: namely, that there is widespread voter fraud," Secretary of State James C. Condos : "I wholeheartedly disagree with premise of this Commission: namely, that there is widespread voter fraud," Secretary of State James C. Condos said in a statement Friday. "There is no evidence of the kind of massive fraud alleged by President Trump, Vice President Pence or Secretary of State Kobach. I believe these unproven claims are an effort to set the stage to weaken our democratic process through a systematic national effort of voter suppression and intimidation. ... My focus is to protect Vermont citizens from bogus attacks on our democracy. I will not release any more information about Vermont voters than is available to any citizen requesting our voter file." 
 
 Virginia: "I have no intention of honoring this request," Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a : "I have no intention of honoring this request," Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement Thursday. "Virginia conducts fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in Virginia. This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November. At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts, and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression." 
 
 Washington: "We are required by law to provide public records upon request," Sec. of State Kim Wyman : "We are required by law to provide public records upon request," Sec. of State Kim Wyman tweeted Thursday. "Other requests from fed elections commission will be considered thoughtfully. ... Info that is NOT public record=your SS# (even last 4), DL #, phone #, email, language preference. We ensure this info remains private." 
 
 West Virginia: "Number one, we've never received a letter," Secretary of State Mac Warner's communications director, Mike Queen, : "Number one, we've never received a letter," Secretary of State Mac Warner's communications director, Mike Queen, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail Friday. "Number two, we can't see whether every state has received a letter, I don't know what states were selected or anything like that, but we haven't received it. Number three, we would never release Social Security numbers." 
 
 Wisconsin: "Wisconsin statutes do not permit the state to release a voter's date of birth, driver license number or Social Security number," said Michael Haas, administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in a : "Wisconsin statutes do not permit the state to release a voter's date of birth, driver license number or Social Security number," said Michael Haas, administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in a statement Friday. "State statutes permit the WEC to share confidential information in limited circumstances with law enforcement agencies or agencies of other states. The Presidential Commission does not appear to qualify under either of these categories. The WEC does not have the discretion to deny a request for the public information in the voter registration database if the required fee is paid. By administrative rule, the price is $12,500 for the entire statewide voter file, and Wisconsin law does not contain any provision for waiving the fee for voter data." ||||| Prominent Democrats denounced the voter fraud commission as an attempt to give respectability to Donald Trump’s assertion that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in 2016. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump disbands voter fraud commission Kobach says Homeland Security immigration officials will take over probe 
 
 President Donald Trump is dumping a controversial commission that was charged with investigating his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud during the 2016 election, the White House said Wednesday. 
 
 Trump asked the Department of Homeland Security to look into the issue instead. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 “Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry,” a statement from the president said. “Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission.” 
 
 The commission was the focus of heated contention even before it was formally announced in May with Vice President Mike Pence as the chairman and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as vice chairman. Democrats urged Trump to abandon the idea altogether, but the president chose to press forward. 
 
 The White House struggled to find Democrats willing to give the effort a bipartisan patina after prominent party leaders denounced the effort as an attempt to give respectability to Trump’s assertion that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in 2016, a volume that the president suggested accounted for Hillary Clinton’s decisive win in the popular vote. 
 
 Democrats and liberal groups rejoiced over the commission's demise Wednesday, but in an interview with POLITICO Wednesday night, Kobach said that exuberance is misplaced. 
 
 "Anyone on the left needs to realize that by throwing the food in the air, they just lost a seat at the table," Kobach said. 
 
 The Kansas official said he expects officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and political appointees overseeing that agency to take over the commission's work and begin efforts to match state voter rolls to federal databases of noncitizens. He insisted he was not disappointed with the president's decision. 
 
 "It’s the right move," Kobach said. "It's a shifting in tactics from having the investigation be done by a federal commission to having it be done by a federal agency. The agency has a greater ability to move quickly to get the investigation done." 
 
 Kobach acknowledged that ICE has little expertise in other types of potential voter fraud, such as multiple voting or voting by felons who've been disenfranchised, but he noted DHS has a broad mandate to address election security issues as critical U.S. infrastructure. 
 
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 White House officials laid blame Wednesday less with Democrats than with the ex-colleague they said was responsible for its creation: former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was slammed in a statement by Trump on Wednesday after accusing Donald Trump Jr. of treason. 
 
 Bannon insisted on the commission’s creation, and pushed hard for it, one White House official said. 
 
 “This was his idea, and it was not a good one,” the official said. 
 
 The commission was a “blundered Bannon rollout” and “should’ve never been in place,” another person familiar with the effort said. 
 
 It was just hours after Trump said in a statement that Bannon had “lost his mind” that the White House announced that the commission would be no more. 
 
 “Steve Bannon was immensely focused on the voter fraud commission,” a person familiar with the commission said. “It struck me as a strong signal to something he was very passionate about when he was in the White House.” 
 
 The pro-Trump website Breitbart News, which was led by Bannon before he joined Trump’s campaign and which he has since rejoined, has been vocal in pushing allegations of mass voter fraud. Kobach, who led the commission, had written paid columns for Breitbart. 
 
 Democrats expressed elation over the White House’s decision to shutter the panel. Some even suggested it might set a precedent for turning back some of the Trump White House’s initiatives. 
 
 “The commission never had anything to do with election integrity,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “It was instead a front to suppress the vote, perpetrate dangerous and baseless claims, and was ridiculed from one end of the country to the other. This shows that ill-founded proposals that just appeal to a narrow group of people won’t work, and we hope they’ll learn this lesson elsewhere.” 
 
 Trump’s statement on dissolving the commission alluded to a flood of litigation the panel was hit with early on, much of it triggered by a request that Kobach issued for all states to provide their voter rolls along with information on citizens’ criminal convictions and even partial Social Security numbers. The White House stressed that it was seeking only publicly available records, but the broad call for data drew an angry reaction from some state officials and raised concerns about how the personal information would be stored and safeguarded. 
 
 "Our staff was spending more time dealing with lawsuits than doing the actual work of the commission," Kobach said. "The left didn't want the commission to find out anything." 
 
 The panel ultimately met in person only twice, in the White House complex in July and at a New Hampshire college in September. The latter meeting was overshadowed by a dispute between Kobach and another panel member who was hosting the session, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner. 
 
 After Kobach suggested in a Breitbart column that illegal, out-of-state voters swung the close U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire to Democrat Maggie Hassan and away from Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Gardner insisted that Kobach had his facts wrong and should have done more research before leveling such a claim. 
 
 In November, the commission was sued by one of its own members — Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap — who alleged he was being frozen out of meeting planning and denied access to the panel’s records. 
 
 Last month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that found substance in Dunlap’s claims and ordered that he be given information needed to participate fully in the group’s deliberations. 
 
 The panel was also beset by other problems, including the arrest in October of one of its staff members, researcher Ronald Williams II, on child pornography charges. A few days later, one of the commission’s members, former Democratic Arkansas state legislator David Dunn, 52, died unexpectedly after heart surgery. 
 
 Commission officials acknowledged that the setbacks and the litigation eventually ground the panel’s work to a near-halt in recent months, making a target to release a report this spring unrealistic. However, as recently as last week, Kobach indicated publicly that he expected the group to meet again sometime this month. 
 
 Dunlap said he learned of the commission's dissolution Wednesday the same way reporters did: via a news release. 
 
 "There was no warning. They didn't give us a heads up that the president's considering shutting it down or anything like that," he told POLITICO. 
 
 However, the Maine official said he had a sense in recent weeks that the panel might have met for the last time. 
 
 "When we got that court ruling, I thought maybe they'll just throw the commission in the of corner and take this on through some other tack," Dunlap said. He said he's concerned that moving the project to DHS could remove some the public and congressional oversight available through the commission. 
 
 Some Democrats criticized Dunlap for agreeing to join the panel last year, but he said he's still comfortable with the decision. 
 
 "It's been a strange ride, to say the least," he said, adding, "I don't have any regrets." ||||| Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump dissolved his much-touted voter fraud commission on Wednesday, attributing the step to various states' refusal to participate in the board, which was criticized as a misguided step to solve a practically non-existent problem. 
 
 "Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.," Trump said in a Thursday morning tweet. 
 
 Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D. 
 
 In the wake of the announcement, advisers outlined hesitation from within the White House for months about the commission. 
 
 "It's a s--t show," said one White House adviser to CNN, adding that the commission went "off the rails." 
 
 Trump established the commission in May after claiming without evidence that massive voter fraud had cost him the popular vote, and he appointed Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to lead the panel. 
 
 But after months went by and the commission faced pushback from officials across the country, civil rights advocates and even a member of the commission itself -- as well as an unclear mandate, according to the White House official -- Trump pulled the plug Wednesday. 
 
 In a statement, the White House said dissolving the commission would avoid "endless legal battles at taxpayer expense," adding that Trump has asked the Department of Homeland Security to determine future action. 
 
 Another White House official familiar with the matter said the commission was unable to operate as structured under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. That law mandates a degree of transparency around commission activities and was the subject of litigation against it. 
 
 The White House says the Department of Homeland Security will take up the issue, and a spokesman for the department said its focus was on election security. 
 
 "At the President's direction, the Department continues to work in support of state governments who are responsible for administering elections, with efforts focused on securing elections against those who seek to undermine the election system or its integrity," DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton told CNN. 
 
 Houlton added that "Mr. Kobach is not advising the Department on this matter." 
 
 That contradicts Kobach, who told The New York Times he would be an informal adviser to the department. 
 
 A controversial task from the start 
 
 The commission has been beset by controversy virtually since it began. 
 
 Critics contended Trump was simply finding a way to account for his popular vote loss in the 2016 presidential election, and one White House adviser expressed a belief that Trump simply wanted the commission to deliver a report saying voter fraud is a problem and to offer some directives to address it. 
 
 Another senior White House official acknowledged bringing on Kobach was controversial. 
 
 "He's a lightning rod," the official said. 
 
 A source close to Pence said chairing the commission "wasn't something that (Pence) asked for," but that the vice president has a "workman-like attitude" about these things, and so he took on the job. 
 
 The source said Trump wanted Kobach involved in the commission with the understanding that while Pence would share the chairing role with Kobach, it would be Kobach who would run the commission day-to-day. 
 
 Treat 'it like a book report' 
 
 The panel requested wide-reaching information about voters in every state, including dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. The request was met with swift and strong opposition by many state election officials , setting off a series of lawsuits over privacy, and requests were eventually scaled back. 
 
 There was even concern among some in the White House that some of the requests from the commission, including asking for voter rolls, crossed legal boundaries and might not have been that well thought out before they were announced publicly. 
 
 The senior adviser lamented how far down the road the White House and Vice President's office had gotten with the commission. 
 
 "VP's team, though, should have seen that assignment as a s--t sandwich and treated it like a book report," the adviser said. "Avoid trouble, cite real instances of voter fraud, address structural and technology problems, make recommendations and move on." 
 
 A spokeswoman for Pence's office referred inquiries about the commission's dissolution to the White House statement. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Fact-checking Trump's claims on voter fraud Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Fact-checking Trump's claims on voter fraud 04:06 
 
 Statements stoking outrage 
 
 Shortly after his shocking win in the 2016 presidential election, Trump asserted via Twitter, without evidence, that he would have won the popular vote had millions not voted illegally. 
 
 "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," he said. 
 
 In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016 
 
 The President also named hard-liners to the panel who were known for their strong belief in widespread voter fraud, despite no research supporting the idea that fraudulent voting has been substantial in almost any election. 
 
 One of those members, the Heritage Foundation's Hans Von Spakovsky, had also sent an email to the Justice Department prior to his appointment urging the government to not include any Democrats on the panel. The email was later made public. 
 
 "We will probably never know the answer to that question," Kobach said on MSNBC. "Because even if you could prove that a certain number of votes were cast by ineligible voters, for example, you wouldn't know how they voted." 
 
 Kobach again faced heat from state officials for statements he made within New Hampshire about New Hampshire's election practices . Those statements were part of the commission's last formal public meeting and drew further outrage from Democrats. 
 
 Legal challenges 
 
 Eventually, one Democratic member of the commission went public with his complaints that the commission was not including its Democratic members and his concern that it existed to substantiate Trump's prior assertion, without evidence, that mass voter fraud took place in the 2016 election. 
 
 That Democratic member, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap , went to federal court to sue the commission and compel it to provide him with documents. 
 
 The US District Court in Washington sided with Dunlap in the lawsuit, which the commission's executive director, Andrew Kossack, previously said had "no merit," and ordered the commission to provide Dunlap with the information on commission activities and communications he requested. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Kobach: Not trying to prove Trump's claims Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Kobach: Not trying to prove Trump's claims 01:53 
 
 On those recent headlines for the commission, the source close to the vice president admitted, "A member of the commission suing the commission is not ideal." 
 
 Groups opposed to the commission hailed the White House shuttering the group. 
 
 Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law executive director Kristen Clarke told CNN it was important for advocates to remain vigilant and cited Trump's repeated revisions to the travel ban as an example. 
 
 "This administration has a track record of refurbishing and reissuing old discriminatory policies as we have seen with the Muslim Ban," Clarke said. 
 
 Dale Ho, the director of the ACLU's project on voting rights, said in a statement that the commission "was a sham from a start." 
 
 Likewise, Brennan Center for Justice president Michael Waldman said the commission "started as a tragedy and ended as a farce." ||||| President Trump’s voter fraud commission may have violated the law by ignoring federal requirements governing requests for information from states, several experts on the regulatory process told The Hill. 
 
 
 
 Experts say the failure to submit the request to states through the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) violates a 1980 law known as the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). They also say the failure could be significant, since states could argue it means they are under no obligation to respond. 
 
 
 
 “If the commission gets heavy-handed with them, it seems to me that the states are within their right to say, 'No, we don’t have to respond because you didn’t go through [OIRA],'” said Susan Dudley, a former OIRA administrator who is now director of the GW Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University. 
 
 
 
 The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia for extensive information last week on their voters, including full names and addresses, political party registration and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. 
 
 
 
 The request is part of work the panel is doing to promote fair and honest federal elections. It was formed after Trump said he only lost the popular vote in last year’s presidential election to Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFive takeaways from the Comey interview Comey pulls no punches with Trump Comey told Obama he dreaded prospect of working under Trump MORE because of widespread voter fraud, an argument rejected by state election officials from both parties. 
 
 
 
 A number of states have reacted to the requests with anger, arguing they represent a severe overreach by the federal government. Forty-four states led by Republican and Democratic governments, as well as the District of Columbia, are already resisting turning over information, according to multiple news outlets. 
 
 
 
 After an initial version of this story was published online, the White House in an email argued that the election commission is exempt from the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires federal agencies to take specific steps before making requests for public information. The reason is simple, according to a spokesman: The commission is not an agency. 
 
 
 
 “The Paperwork Reduction Act only applies to information collections by agencies,” Marc Lotter, spokesman for Vice President Pence, said in an email. “The Commission is an entity that �?serve[s] solely to advise and assist the President,’ and is not, therefore, an agency subject to PRA.” 
 
 
 
 Experts interviewed by The Hill said they believed that the commission did fall under the Paperwork Reduction Act, a 1980 law that requires federal agencies to seek public input, including through a comment period, before making a request for information. A 1995 amendment extended OIRA’s authority to include not only requests for information for the government, but also requests for information to the public. 
 
 
 
 There are some exemptions from the Paperwork Act’s requirements, but Richard Belzer, a former OIRA economist, said in an email to The Hill that he didn’t recall Trump’s executive order including any provision that would exempt the commission from following the requirements. 
 
 
 
 Belzer said it would not be unprecedented for OIRA to wave through an approval or issue an exemption at the request of the White House, but he argued this would be “legally dubious” in this case. 
 
 
 
 The Paperwork Reduction Act defines “agency” very broadly and exempts only requests for information from the Government Accountability Office and the Federal Election Commission from having to follow the requirements of the law. So the voter commission and the type of information it is requesting would be covered. 
 
 
 
 The law requires that agencies justify their requests for public information, specify how it will be used and provide assurances that data will be protected. The law also obliges the agencies to estimate how many hours it will take entities to respond. 
 
 
 
 When a request is submitted, documents get a control or reference number from the Office of Management and Budget. No marking is apparent on the letter sent from the Commission to the states, which led several experts on the process to question whether it had gone through the process. 
 
 
 
 In a letter Monday, United to Protect Democracy and the Brennan Center for Justice called on Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney to take action against the commission for failing to follow the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
 
 
 
 “The PRA reflects a longstanding recognition that when agencies collect information from the public, they must do it in a way that balances legitimate governmental need with the burdens such collections may impose,” the groups said. “To ensure that balance, the statute requires agencies to engage with the public before embarking on such collections. The Advisory Commission has plainly violated those requirements.” 
 
 
 
 Stuart Shapiro, a professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, told The Hill that a review can take anywhere from six to nine months to complete — a time frame that can be grating to agencies. 
 
 
 
 Shapiro raised the possibility that the commission violated the Paperwork Reduction Act in a blog post for The Regulatory Review on Wednesday. 
 
 
 
 He noted that the commission’s letter to the states did not include any indication that its request for information had been submitted for review through the PRA process. 
 
 
 
 Though the commission asked states to willingly hand over the information, Shapiro said both voluntary and mandatory requests are required to follow the law. 
 
 
 
 “I think it shows a carelessness in their desire to come in and shake things up and do what they want and to do so with a disregard for the rules,” said Shapiro, who is also a contributor to The Hill. 
 
 
 
 “We saw it with the immigration ban, we saw it with the court overturning the delay of the methane rules,” he said, referring to a federal appeals court decision on Monday that prevents the administration from suspending enforcement of a rule restricting methane emissions. 
 
 
 
 “They aren’t following the rules, and when you don’t follow the rules, eventually someone points that out and you have to go back and follow them.” 
 
 
 
 Trump has been fixated on voter fraud since the election, which found Clinton winning the popular vote by almost 3 million ballots. Trump claimed that the popular vote would have been his “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” 
 
 
 
 Dozens of state election officials from both parties have said there is no evidence of significant voter fraud. 
 
 
 
 Those conclusions have done nothing to dissuade the president, however, and in May he created the 15-member Election Integrity commission to identify the breadth of voter fraud and other improprieties that might compromise the election process. 
 
 
 
 Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who heads Trump’s election commission, defended the request on Wednesday and said media reports that it has been rejected by dozens of states are overheated. 
 
 
 
 “At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission's request for publicly available voter information,” Kobach, a 
 
 Republican, said in a statement issued through the Pence’s office. Stories that suggest a larger number are fake news, he added. 
 
 
 
 Kobach, a prominent anti-immigration activist, is vying to become Kansas’s governor next year. On Monday, a watchdog group filed a complaint alleging that Kobach is using his position atop the election panel to promote his campaign.
– President Trump has long contended that "millions" of illegal voters marred the November election, despite no evidence to support that belief, and the commission he's approved to shake out voter fraud has been hitting some roadblocks. The latest obstacle: the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity may have broken the law in its request for nationwide voter data, the Hill reports. The commission's letter sent to all 50 states and DC apparently didn't go through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, required of all federal agencies making requests for public information. More on that and related stories: Not following the OIRA process would be a violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act, though some say the commission isn't technically an agency and doesn't fall under the law's purview. Others disagree. "I think it shows a carelessness in their desire to come in and … do what they want and to do so with a disregard for the rules," Rutgers University professor Stuart Shapiro says. So far, 44 states and the District of Columbia (the Nation counts 45 states) have said they can't (or won't) turn over certain portions of the requested info, with some saying they won't provide any, per CNN and other sources. The Washington Post dives into why this mass rebuff is happening as states figure out what they can legally make available. The story notes that "partial data could make it all largely worthless or misleading" in trying to put together a "national picture." Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who's the vice chair of the commission, put out an official White House statement Wednesday blasting the "fake news" that 44 states have "refused" to hand over voter info. Per Kobach's numbers, 20 states "have agreed to provide the publicly available information requested by the Commission," with another 16 mulling what data they're legally allowed to release—meaning just 14 states and DC have outright said no to the commission. Kobach doesn't categorize specific states in his remarks. One of commission member thinks the backlash coming to this request for voters' personal info, which includes party affiliations and partial Social Security numbers, should have been obvious. "The fullness of experience being what it is, we should have predicted it," Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap tells Mic. The Nation, which counts the Trump administration's initiative as a major move toward "voter suppression," says the mission is "backfiring badly," with "strong opposition" from GOP secretaries of state in a number of red states and balking from members of the commission itself. "The outpouring of bipartisan opposition shows why Trump's sham election commission should be disbanded before it does any more damage," writes Ari Berman. Trump tweeted Saturday that "numerous states are refusing" to offer up information to the "very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?"