A civil rights group filed a complaint Monday against Kris Kobach, the vice chairman of President Trump’s voter fraud commission, alleging he is using that position to benefit his campaign for governor.
According to CNN, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Kobach violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that bars federal employees from using their official positions to engage in political efforts.
Kobach, who is the Kansas secretary of state and a conservative candidate for governor in the state in 2018, has helped design some of the toughest voting laws in the country, which Democrats and civil rights groups allege are meant to restrict voting access by minority groups.
In his role with Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created in May, Kobach sent a letter to all 50 secretaries of state last week requesting voters’ full names, their addresses, their birth dates, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, their voting histories and their political parties, if they had been recorded.
The majority of states have objected to the request, citing concerns over privacy and politics.
In its Monday complaint, the legal group highlighted examples in which it accused Kobach of improperly promoting his role on the commission to bolster his candidacy for Kansas governor through his campaign website and social media accounts.
The group also cites remarks Kobach has made that it alleges blurred the line between federal government worker and political candidate.
A spokesperson for Kobach denied any wrongdoing.
“We are certain that no Hatch Act violations have occurred,” spokeswoman Samantha Poetter told CNN. “This is nothing but a bunch of liberal lawyers trying to create a story.”
Last month, the the United States Office of Special Counsel determined that Dan Scavino Jr., the White House director of social media, violated the Hatch Act by sending a tweet in April calling for the defeat of Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., who has been critical of Trump.
In another case before Trump became president, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused FBI Director James Comey of violating the Hatch Act when he sent a letter just before the election to congressional committee chairs saying the FBI was reviewing newly discovered emails that might be linked to Hillary Clinton’s private server.
