Vox reports: This week, the public got its first real peek at President Donald Trump’s commission to study the integrity of elections in America — and some civil rights advocates are warning that the commission is being used to lay the groundwork for voter suppression efforts.

On Wednesday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who, along with Vice President Mike Pence, is in charge of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, sent a letter to state governments, asking officials for suggestions to improve the integrity of elections. Then the letter asked for a lot of voter data — including names, birth dates, addresses, party affiliation, military service status, and histories of felony convictions.

There are questions about whether this request is even legal. But civil rights groups are worried about what, exactly, the Trump administration plans to do with all of this data. [Continue reading…]