The vice chairman of President Donald Trump's election commission on Wednesday dismissed reports that the committee was facing resistance from U.S. states to provide voter roll information.
Kris Kobach, also Kansas' Secretary of State, called the reports, "fake news," and "media distortions."
"While there are news reports that 44 states have 'refused' to provide voter information to the Commission, these reports are patently false, more 'fake news,'" said Kobach in a statement. "At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission's request for publicly available voter information."
The commission last week asked for voter roll data, including names, date of birth, voter history, information regarding felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, military status, overseas citizen information, party info for every voter and the last four digits of the registered voters' Social Security numbers.
"Despite media distortions and obstruction by a handful of state politicians, this bipartisan commission on election integrity will continue its work to gather the facts through public records requests to ensure the integrity of each American's vote because the public has a right to know," Kobach said.