The attorney for a Sherman County man accused of voter fraud says the case should be dismissed because Secretary of State Kris Kobach is not personally prosecuting it. Kobach’s office charged three people with voter fraud last month after the Legislature made him the only secretary of state in the nation with prosecutorial power. The prosecutions have generated national attention and debate. Lincoln Wilson faces felony charges. He is accused of voting in both Yuma County, Colo., and Sherman County in western Kansas. His lawyer, Jeff Mason, is seeking to have the case dismissed based on his interpretation that “the statute requires that everything be done by Mr. Kobach as secretary of state.”
The case was filed by Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker, who also represented the office during Wilson’s first appearance in court Tuesday. “We believe that is not proper, so we’re asking the court to dismiss,” Mason said.
Kobach’s office said in an e-mail that another statute authorizes the assistant secretary of state and other deputies to act on Kobach’s behalf. “We consider the motion to dismiss perfunctory and we clearly have statutory authority to prosecute this case,” said Kobach’s spokesman Craig McCullah in an e-mail.
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