President Trump’s voter fraud commission will convene for the first time later this month, according to a notice published by the government on Friday.
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was formed to investigate Trump’s claims of voter fraud in last year’s presidential election, will hold a public meeting on July 19.
The commission has asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia last week for extensive information on their registered voters, including full names and addresses, political party registration and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
As many as 44 states and the District have refused to turn over the documents, and regulatory experts told told The Hill that they believed the commission may have violated the law by not first running its request through a federal office that handles information requests for the government.
The administration argues the commission is not covered by those rules.
Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who heads Trump’s election commission, says only 14 states and the District had refused the commission’s request.
The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center has reportedly filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s request. The group claims the government should have assessed privacy concerns before making the request, should be using a secured website to receive the information and should not make public partial Social Security numbers, The Washington Post reported.
The meeting is expected to consist of a ceremonial swearing in of commission members, introductions and statements from members, a discussion of the commission’s charge and objectives, possible comments or presentations from invited experts, and a discussion of next steps and related matters.
The General Services Administration is announcing this meeting with less than 15 calendar days’ public notice as July 4 was a federal holiday, thus delaying the administrative processing of the notice.
– This article was corrected at 4:02 to reflect that the commission will meet on July 19. A previous version contained incorrect information.