On Wednesday, Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and Vice Chair of President Donald Trump’s election integrity commission, defended the committee’s request for state voter roll data.
The commission sent letters to all 50 states last week requesting voter information including names, addresses, party affiliation, electoral participation history and the last four digits of social security numbers. Vox reported that as of Wednesday, 44 states had rejected the request, including Kobach’s office in Kansas.
According to Politico, in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday, Kobach defended the request, insisting the commission – which indicated that it planned to publish the data - was only requesting the states release information “as permitted under state law.”
Kobach also called the reports of 44 states rejecting the request, “patently false, more fake news,” saying only 14 states and D.C. had denied the request, while 36 others “either agreed or are considering participating.”
