Trump voter fraud commission appears to have gone dark

WASHINGTON – The election commission set up to investigate President Trump’s charges of voter fraud seems to have gone dark in recent weeks.

The commission last met on Sept. 12 in New Hampshire, and it’s unclear — even to commission members — when or where the next meeting will be. Groups suing the commission for more information about its activities also have no clue.

“There’s not a lot of information out there,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “It’s been chaotic from Day 1 and remains chaotic. I think that they don’t know what they’re doing. I think this commission was poorly structured and poorly conceived.”

The Lawyers’ Committee and several other civil rights and voting rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have sued the commission, arguing it hasn’t been transparent and hasn’t conducted enough of its business in the open.

Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, a Republican commission member and president of the National Association of Secretaries of States, said there hasn’t been much commission business in recent weeks.

“It’s my understanding that there are so many lawsuits against the commission that ... right now there’s nothing going on,” said Lawson, who testified last month at a House Administration Committee hearing on maintaining voter registration rolls. “It’s not the fact that anybody’s being shut out. It’s just that they wanted to get some of these lawsuits settled.”

Trump set up the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to look into his allegations of voter fraud in last year’s presidential election. Trump claims the election included as many as 3 million to 5 million fraudulent voters, enough to erase Hillary Clinton’s advantage in the popular vote. Election experts dispute Trump’s claims.

The office of Vice President Pence, who is commission co-chairman, said the next meeting has not been scheduled yet.

The commission has held two meetings since it was created in May.

Lawson said she still expects the commission will complete its report due to Trump next year.

MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES President Trump, flanked by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Vice President Pence, speaks to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on July 19. The panel’s fate seems in limbo.