A federal court in Washington on Monday cleared the way for President Trump’s election commission to ask states to turn over personal voter information as part of its investigation into Trump’s claims about voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. District Court ruled against the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public-interest research group that had sought a temporary restraining order to block the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The court rejected arguments that the commission’s request for certain voter data violated Americans’ privacy and that the commission did not follow constitutional proceedings. … The commission has been hit with a flurry of lawsuits since its vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, sent a letter to state officials nationwide June 28 requesting voter information, including dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers and information about which elections voters participated in since 2006.
In addition to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, lawsuit, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, Common Cause and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund have also sued, citing privacy concerns and other alleged violations.
… As of July 18, officials from 21 states have said they will not submit any voter information. Officials from 29 states have agreed to submit information, but said their state laws allow them to provide only some of the information requested. Even Kansas, where Kobach is secretary of state, will only provide partial information.
Full Article: District court refuses to block federal government voter information collection – LA Times.