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Maryland will not comply with a request from President Donald Trump's voter integrity commission to supply data on the state's registered voters.
Linda Lamone, the administrator for the state Board of Elections, said in a letter on Monday to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity that the request violates state election law.
"Disclosure of some of the information encompassed by your request may be prohibited under State and/or federal law," the letter reads. "Accordingly, I am denying your request."
Maryland joins more than two dozen other states that have partially or entirely rejected the request by the commission, which is chaired by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The Maryland board had sought advice from state Attorney General Brian Frosh, D, on how to respond to the unprecedented request, which was made last week.
Both Common Cause Maryland and the ACLU of Maryland had raised questions about whether turning over the data would violate state election law.
Damon Effingham, legal and policy director for Common Cause Maryland, said Maryland law only allows only Maryland registered voters to request to inspect voter roll information. The voter has to submit a statement that the information would not be used for commercial purposes or purposes unrelated to the electoral process.
"Secretary of State Kobach is a registered voter in Kansas," Effingham said in a statement. "And the request . . . does not include any indication of how the data will be used, let alone the required statement of intent under Maryland law. In fact, the Commission has stated its intent to release this vast trove of data to the public, creating significant concerns with how that data will ultimately be used."