By John DiStaso
WMUR
MANCHESTER, N.H. (July 10, 2017) President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission on Monday asked election officials throughout the country to put on hold the transfer of voter data to the panel pending the outcome of a federal judge’s ruling, according to several reports.
The request by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity came on the eve of a New Hampshire court hearing on an attempt to block Secretary of State Bill Gardner from sending Granite State voter information to the commission.
An attorney for the plaintiffs in the New Hampshire case said that as of Monday evening, he knew of no plan to postpone the Tuesday hearing at Hillsborough County Superior Court South in Nashua.
The decision by the Trump commission came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Election Privacy Information Center, which is seeking a temporary injunction. Also Monday, the national American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., charging violations of federal law.
Gardner told WMUR Monday night he was unaware of the new request by commission vice chairman Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, to put the transfer of the data on hold. Gardner, however, had just returned to the state from a conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Indiana minutes before he spoke with WMUR.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire filed suit last week in state Superior Court seeking to block the transfer of the New Hampshire data. Joining the ACLU-NH in the case are state Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, and state Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Paul Twomey of Chichester, told WMUR on Monday night that he did not know if the decision by the Trump commission would affect the scheduled Tuesday hearing in Nashua. As of Monday night, he said, the Tuesday hearing was still on but that more information could become available.
Gardner and Gov. Chris Sununu have said that only publicly available information would be sent to the commission. Gardner had intended to send the data by this coming Friday.
