President Trump’s controversial voter fraud panel is meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire next week, but this week it was accused of violating federal public records law by using private email accounts for official business.
The allegation — the result of an ongoing transparency lawsuit against the Commission — is detailed in my story in today’s Portland Press Herald, where I interview Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of four Democrats on the commission.
I’ve been covering the commission for the Press Herald all year, most recently this story, wherein we learned that Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach — who is now also a paid columnist for Steve Bannon’s white nationalist news site Brietbart — has been taking actions on behalf of the body without consulting with his fellow commissioners, who appear not to have any real powers at all.
[Update, 11/18/17: Dunlap has now sued the commission and asked for an injunction. For more updated coverage, start here.]
COLIN WOODARD is a New York Times bestselling author, historian and award-winning journalist. He is the author of seven books that have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and inspired an NBC television drama. He is currently Director of Nationhood Lab at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Affairs at Salve Regina University. As State and National Affairs Writer at Maine's Portland Press Herald, he won a 2012 George Polk Award and was a finalist for a 2016 Pulitzer Prize. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Economist, Smithsonian and dozens of other major publications.