White House voter commission publishes names, numbers of worried citizens

Vice president's spokesman dismisses concerns: "These are public comments."

Shortly before the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is set to have its first meeting on Wednesday July 19—which will be livestreamed here—the controversial committee published hundreds of pages from concerned citizens about the group’s work. In some cases, the White House released citizens’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses, seemingly without their knowledge.
However, a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the group, indicated that releasing such personal information was ok.

"These are public comments, similar to individuals appearing before commission to make comments and providing name before making comments," Marc Lotter, press secretary to the vice president, told Vox on Friday. "The Commission’s Federal Register notice asking for public comments and its website make clear that information ‘including names and contact information’ sent to this email address may be released."

Nearly all states have said that they will not comply with the commission’s request for voter data. While some of the comments are in favor of the commission’s work, a large portion of them are not. In one instance, a president of a company in Connecticut wrote: "Your attempt to get voter information is undemocratic and un-American. Shame on you."

Others were more colorful and included messages like: "I hope you get just shit and nothing else," and more simply, "Fuck off." Another took a more humorous tack: "heard you guys need voter info and stuff, here’s mine," linking to Goatse, a notorious NSFW image that has been online since 1999.