Maryland Attorney Brian Frosh (D) on Monday informed President Donald Trump’s bogus “election integrity” commission that the state would not comply with its request to hand over sensitive voter data.
To fulfill the request, Frosh said, Maryland’s board of elections would have to violate state law.
“The assistant attorneys general representing the State Board of Elections have considered the request to the Board for the personal information of millions of voters and have determined that the requested disclosure is prohibited by law,” Frosh wrote in a statement Monday. “These lawyers have advised the State Board of its obligations.”
Frosh said he found the request “repugnant,” and that “it appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President Trump’s fantasy that he won the popular vote.”
“Repeating incessantly a false story of expansive voter fraud, and then creating a commission to fuel that narrative, does not make it any more true,” he continued. “There is no evidence that the integrity of the 2016 election in Maryland — or any other state — was compromised by voter fraud. I urge Governor Hogan and the State Board of Elections to speak out against this effort and to reject any further attempt to intimidate voters and obtain their personal information.”
“I will continue to take all necessary steps to protect the private personal information of Maryland voters and the integrity of Maryland’s voting process,” Frosh concluded.
Maryland joined a number of states that will not comply with all or parts of the commission’s data request because it does not comply with state law — including Indiana and Kansas, the respective home states of the commission’s chair and vice chair.
