The Presidential Election Commission, which unlawfully
sought to collect state voter data on hundreds of millions of Americans, was
disbanded Wednesday by President Trump. The Commission had faced an
ongoing lawsuit by EPIC over its failure to conduct and publish a Privacy Impact Assessment before collecting personal data, as required by law. EPIC’s lawsuit led the Commission to
suspend the collection of voter data last year, discontinue the use of an
unsafe computer server, and
delete voter information that was unlawfully obtained. Many
states and over 150 members of Congress opposed the Commission’s efforts to collect state voter data. In a statement, the President said that he had asked the Department of Homeland Security “to determine next courses of action.” EPIC has a pending Freedom of Information Act
request to the DHS for records concerning the federal government’s collection of personal data on voters. EPIC’s case against the Commission, which remains open, is
EPIC v. Commission, No. 17-1320 (D.D.C.) & 17-5171 (D.C. Cir.).