Connecticut joins Maryland in hammering Kobach commission for illegally requesting voter data

Maryland and Connecticut joined the growing list of states refusing to comply with President Donald Trump's election integrity commission that many have accused of promoting voter fraud -- and did so in harsh terms.

NBC reporter Brad Jaffy alerted Twitter to a statement from the office of Maryland's attorneys general rebuking the Trump administration's request for voter records, and a Mic report detailed the Connecticut secretary of state's inquisition of the administration regarding why they need the information.

In the Maryland statement, Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said his office would not only refuse the administration's request, but went further in calling their actions unconstitutional.

"The assistant attorneys general representing the State Board of Elections have considered the request to the Board for the personal information of millions of voters and have determined that the requested disclosure is prohibited by law," the statement read.

Meanwhile, Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill said in a statement that while she was willing to provide "publicly-available information" to the commission, her office would ensure "the privacy of voters is honored by withholding protected data."

"In the same spirit of transparency, we will request that the Commission share any memos, meeting minutes or additional information as state officials have not been told precisely what the Commission is looking for," Merrill continued. "This lack of openness is all the more concerning, considering that the Vice Chair of the Commission, Kris Kobach, has a lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas."