Petition Urges Investigation into US Election Agency

More than 116,000 people have signed an online petition urging the inspector general to investigate what it calls voter suppression at a federal government agency entrusted with making voting more accessible.

The progressive advocacy group CREDO Action said it planned to deliver petition signatures Wednesday to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Inspector General Patricia Layfield.

The commission referred any comment to Layfield, who did not immediately respond to an email.

At issue is the unilateral action by Executive Director Brian Newby that without public notice required residents of Kansas, Alabama and Georgia to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote when using a federal form.

A coalition of voting rights group has also sued Newby and the EAC in federal court in an effort to overturn the move.