January 09, 2018

*-- Trump dissolves voter fraud commission --*

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dissolve his voter fraud commission Wednesday, the White House said.

Trump cited lack of cooperation from states as the reason for his decision to dissolve the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which faces a series of lawsuits over privacy.

"Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry," the White House said in a statement. "Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action."

Trump established the commission in May to research "improper" voter registration procedures, systemic vulnerabilities and voting irregularities including any scenario where a person ineligible to vote becomes an eligible voter in a particular jurisdiction.

Following his victory Trump repeatedly claimed "millions" of undocumented immigrants voted in the 2016 election.

Since then the commission has faced multiple lawsuits including one from the Electronic Privacy Information Center regarding its request for the last four digits of voters' social security number as part of its investigation.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democratic member of the commission, also filed a lawsuit saying the commission was withholding requested records from its own members.

The U.S. District Court in Washington ruled in favor of Dunlap and ordered the commission to provide Dunlap with the information on commission activities and communications he requested.

Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and the panel's vice chair, has previously said the lawsuits were slowing the commission down.