United States President Donald Trump's attempt to find out if illegal voters were responsible for him losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in last year's Presidential election led to the creation of the Election Integrity Commission. Right after the commission was established, plenty of states declined to share voter information but yesterday the White House released emails sent by angry voters and did not withhold sensitive information that might give away their identities.

An embarrassing slip

When the Election Integrity Commission sought voter information, the majority of states declined from sharing such information and it led to a lot of bad press for the White House, as it was seeking information that could not be shared legally.

The initial plan to seek voter information had led to widespread outrage but the announcement that the information was going to be shared in the public domain caused even more heartburn. Naturally, angry voters sent strongly worded e-mails to the White House.

However, what the White House did next left everyone dumbstruck. According to a report by The Washington Post, around 112 pages of profanity laced emails were released and most of the Personal Information of those who wrote those emails also found its way into the public domain. Instead of redacting the personal information in those emails, the information was released as is.

Names and addresses released

According to a report from the Washington Post, the emails were sent to the Election Integrity Commission and many of those emails contained personal information including names, addresses, telephone numbers and even employer information.

It is ironic that the people who wrote to the commission asking the White House to desist from releasing their personal information have ended up bearing the brunt of this incredibly irresponsible action from the Election Integrity Commission.

It is common practice among Federal agencies to seek public opinion on any legislation.

At the same time, respondents are told to share only those bits of personal information that they are comfortable with sharing. However, the White House did not issue any such warnings with regards to the sharing of personal information and so the whole thing now looks like a mess that will need to be fixed as soon as possible.

Mike Pence's Press Secretary Marc Lotter, however, sounded dismissive and was reported by The Washington Post as writing, "These are public comments, similar to individuals appearing before commission to make comments and providing names before making comments.".