Secretaries of State stop submitting voter data to Trump commission

Secretaries of State have been asked to hold off on submitting voter data information to President Donald Trump's voting commission due to a pending privacy law suit against the commission.

Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, said Tuesday the state office will not submit any voter data to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity - which earlier this month requested voter data from all 50 states - until the commission provides further information.

'They said, Don't send any data,” Hall said.

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a watchdog group, has asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to block the commission's data request, arguing the panel had not conducted the full privacy impact statement required by federal law for new government electronic data-collection systems.

In an email sent Monday from Trump's commission to the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, Andrew Kossack, designated federal officer with the commission, said voter data no longer was being requested from state offices.

'Until the judge rules on the (temporary restraining order), we request that you hold on submitting any data. We will follow up with you with further instructions once the judge issues her ruling,” the email states.

Separately Monday, two civil liberties groups filed lawsuits to prevent the commission from holding its first scheduled meeting next week, saying the panel had been working in secret and in violation of government regulations on transparency.

The two new lawsuits add to the potential roadblocks faced by the commission, whose request for voting information from more than 150 million registered voters has drawn bipartisan criticism across the states as an assault on privacy and states' rights and a stealth attempt at voter suppression.

At least 44 states - including Iowa - had indicated that they won't provide all their voter data, with some saying they will provide nothing and others turning over what they can under state laws.

Vice President Mike Pence's office said last week that 20 states have agreed to share at least some data and 16 more are reviewing the request.

Iowa Code specifies a formal process for requesting voter information, Paul Pate, Iowa's Secretary of State, has said. His office would fulfill the request if it complies with state law.

'However, providing personal voter information, such as Social Security numbers, is forbidden under Iowa Code,” Pate said earlier this month.

'We are required by Iowa code to provide voter lists of information that is publicly available. That's part of the code and the code is very clear,” Hall, the office spokesman, said Tuesday.

Government lawyers have defended the commission's effort, saying that it is a presidential advisory panel, not a federal agency subject to privacy requirements; that it's requesting data that is already publicly available; and that it would 'de-identify” - or make anonymous - sensitive information before releasing documents.

l Gazette reporter Mitchell Schmidt and Spencer S. Hsu of the Washington Post contributed to this story; (319) 339-3175, mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com