Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has changed course and decided against releasing detailed information about every registered voter in the state to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Dunlap said he met Monday with Attorney General Janet Mills and she advised him that releasing Maine’s Central Voter Registration files to the commission would violate state laws that protect personal voter-registration data from being made public. On Friday, Dunlap had said he would provide the commission with some information that was identified as publicly available. The request, dated June 28, was made to all 50 states by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chair.
Dunlap serves on the commission, which was formed this year by President Trump to investigate allegations of widespread fraud in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has claimed that millions of illegal votes cost him the popular vote in that election.
Dunlap, a Democrat who opposed having Maine comply with the federal Real ID lawbecause he didn’t trust in the government’s ability to protect private and personal identifying information, defended his position on the election integrity commission, saying he accepted the post because he wants Maine to have a voice on the panel. He reasons that if he were not on the commission, the state’s viewpoint would be ignored.
Full Article: Secretary of state now says Maine will not provide voter information to Trump panel – Portland Press Herald.