Kansas: Kobach, Justice Dept. prep for Denver showdown over voting rights | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department will soon face one another in a Denver appeals court, arguing a landmark federal case over proof of citizenship and voting rights. While the case will directly affect only a couple of hundred Kansas voters – those who registered using a federal form instead of the far more common state form – it has broad national implications and has attracted input from interests ranging from the state of Alabama to U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It’s already affected Wichita in a major way. If federally registered voters weren’t disqualified from state and local elections as they are now, Wichitans would probably be voting this November on an initiative to decriminalize marijuana.

Kansas: Topeka seniors shut out of primary by ID law, poll worker | Courier-Journal

The state’s voter identification law and a poll worker who didn’t fully understand it prevented elderly residents of a Topeka care facility from voting in Tuesday’s primary election. Secretary of State Kris Kobach confirmed Thursday that some residents of Brewster Place in southwest Topeka who showed up to a polling place there without I.D.s were turned away without being issued provisional ballots, as required by law. “It appears the poll worker just didn’t understand the instructions,” Kobach said, namely that no potential voter should be rejected without at least being offered the chance to vote provisionally. Provisional ballots allow a potential voter more time to produce an identification that complies with the law the Legislature passed in 2011. They must be vetted by a county canvassing board that decides which provisional votes will be counted. Kobach spearheaded the ID law and a proof-of-citizenship requirement to register, saying the measures are necessary to prevent voter impersonation and protect the state from “alien” voters.

Kansas: Kobach challenges church leaders who oppose voter ID law | Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in a radio interview Wednesday that he will continue to move forward with voter identification requirements and questioned the religiousness of church leaders who have opposed the law. While a guest on Topeka radio station WIBW 580, Kobach was asked to respond to religious leaders and other critics of the voter ID requirement. “We’re absolutely going to keep fighting back, and Kansans overwhelmingly approve it,” Kobach said. “I don’t know what churches — and I would put churches in quotation marks — because the vast majority of church leaders I’ve spoken to are fully in favor of our photo ID law.”

Kansas: Confusion over voter registration | KAKE

There was confusion today – over voter registration as early voting begins. And at least some of the confusion stems from the state’s new dual registration voting system. Most people who vote at the Butler County courthouse find the experience quick and easy. Your photo identification is scanned and you’re good to go. But County Clerk Don Engels says since the law changed in January, 2013 some 300 people have filed incomplete or inaccurate voter registration forms.

Kansas: Transgender Kansans fear voter ID roadblock | Topeka Capital-Journal

Jordan Hanson, of Lawrence, is afraid that when she goes to the polls for the Aug. 5 primary, she will be turned away without being able to vote. Hanson is a resident of Kansas who is older than 18, has registered to vote and has an official, government-issued photo identification card. The problem? The photo and the “sex” field on the ID, a Kansas driver’s license, identify her as a man. Hanson, a transgender Kansan, said she is loathe to let her gender identity be vetted by a random poll worker. “My identification and my ability to vote should not be up the subjective interpretation of anyone,” Hanson said. Tom Witt is the executive director of Equality Kansas, the state’s main lobbying group for gay, lesbian and transgender Kansans.

Kansas: Judge rules for Kobach on voter registration | Associated Press

A judge cleared the way Friday for Kansas to use a dual voting system to help enforce its proof-of-citizenship rule for new voters, suggesting that doing otherwise could taint the state’s August primary election. Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis’ ruling was a victory for Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a conservative Republican who champions the citizenship rule as an anti-election fraud measure. Critics contend it will suppress the vote. Theis rejected the American Civil Liberties Union’s request to block a policy Kobach outlined last month in instructing county officials on handling ballots from voters who registered using a national form without providing a birth certificate, passport or some other documentation of their U.S. citizenship. Kobach advised counties to set aside the ballots and count only their votes in congressional races.

Kansas: ACLU seeks to block Kansas voter-citizenship move | Topeka Capital-Journal

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a Kansas judge Friday to prevent Secretary of State Kris Kobach from starting a “dual” voting system to help the conservative Republican enforce a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters that he championed. The ACLU filed a request for a temporary injunction with Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis in a lawsuit that the group filed last year on behalf of two voters and Equality Kansas, the state’s leading gay-rights group. Theis already had scheduled a hearing for July 11, and the ACLU wants its request considered then, ahead of the state’s Aug. 5 primary.

Kansas: Voter ID mix-up shows more trouble with new laws | The Hutchinson News

Oops. It turns out that the newfangled voter registration and identification system so lauded and pursued by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach might not work as smoothly as we’ve all been told. It also turns out that one of those Kansans whose voter registration landed on the state’s “suspended” list is none other than the daughter of Kobach primary challenger Scott Morgan. Morgan’s 18-year-old daughter registered to vote online, submitting a digital copy of her U.S. passport as validation of her citizenship status. Nevertheless, the younger Morgan received a letter from the Douglas County Clerk’s Office explaining that her voter registration lacked the needed identification. Although the issue was quickly resolved, candidate Morgan raised a valid point about the potential for the voter registration requirements to interfere with the right to vote. “How it happened to my daughter and then was miraculously resolved … it just makes me wonder how many people out there whose father isn’t running for secretary of state against the incumbent are left in never-never land,” he said this week.

Kansas: Democrat proposes changes in Kansas voting rules | Associated Press

Kansas would end strict enforcement of a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters under proposals outlined Tuesday by the presumed Democratic nominee for secretary of state. Democrat and former state Sen. Jean Schodorf outlined a plan for fixing what she called problems with the state’s voter registration system. But conservative Republican incumbent Kris Kobach said Schodorf is promising to ignore the proof-of-citizenship requirement if elected secretary of state, making the office “lawless.” Schodorf would allow prospective voters to cast ballots even if their registrations are on hold because they’ve not yet documented their citizenship for election officials. She also proposed that Kansas stop requiring proof of citizenship from new residents who’ve had valid voter registrations in other states and allow anyone using a national voter registration form to vote in all state and local elections — though the form doesn’t instruct voters to provide citizenship documents.

Kansas: Kobach foe’s child affected by Kansas voter rule | Associated Press

The youngest daughter of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s challenger in the Republican primary had her voter registration put on hold temporarily because of a proof-of-citizenship requirement criticized by her father. GOP challenger Scott Morgan said Monday the Douglas County clerk’s office told his 18-year-old daughter, Grace, that her registration was incomplete last week because she hadn’t documented her U.S. citizenship. Morgan is a Lawrence attorney and businessman, and Grace Morgan is a University of Kansas student. Scott Morgan said his daughter registered online last week and submitted an electronic image of her passport, only to receive the letter days later asking for documentation of her citizenship. His campaign’s Facebook page Sunday posted a picture of his daughter holding the letter, and he tweeted about it.

Kansas: Proof of citizenship law will be focus of secretary of state race | Wichita Eagle

With Aug. 5 primary elections less than two months away, more than 18,000 potential voters find themselves with an incomplete registration status because their applications have not met the state’s proof of citizenship law. The issue is at the center of the race for secretary of state – the state’s top election officer. Scott Morgan, a Republican challenger, and Jean Schodorf, the Democratic candidate, both accuse incumbent Kris Kobach of disenfranchising voters. Kobach argues that the controversy has been overblown and says voters can fix their incomplete status. He also argues that the law helps prevent election fraud. The secretary of state’s office tracks the totals at the start of every month. As of June 1 there were 18,071 incomplete voter registrations, according to spokeswoman V. Kay Curtis.

Kansas: New E-pollbooks ready to launch | Emporia Gazette

Lyon County election officer Tammy Vopat and deputy election officer Heather Dill recently finished training roughly 80 poll workers on the county’s new E-pollbooks. The books will change the way that voters sign in before entering the voting booth, but in a very minor way. Instead of signing a piece of paper, they will be putting their signature on an electronic pad. Just like the paper version, the new system will simply record that a person voted, not what ballot they received or who they voted for. “The main thing that I want to let the voter know is that we do have new equipment, and actually the only change that the voter will see is when they sign their name,” Vopat said. “It won’t be on paper, it will be on one of the electronic signature pads.”

Kansas: Hundreds of Douglas County voters still in limbo as primary election nears | Lawrence Journal-World

Douglas County election officials are reaching out to more than 600 would-be voters whose registrations are being held “in suspense” because they have not yet provided necessary documents to prove they are U.S. citizens. County Clerk Jamie Shew said Thursday that those voters have until Aug. 4 to provide those documents if they want to vote in the Aug. 5 primary elections for federal, state and local offices. But a small number of them – four, to be exact – may be eligible to vote in the federal primaries for U.S. House and Senate, although they will not be able to vote in state and local races. “There has been some confusion about that,” Shew said Thursday. “Some people think they can show their proof of citizenship at the polls. But they have to file it with us before Election Day to be eligible.”

Kansas: Kobach: Some Kansans will vote for federal candidates only | Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas voters who registered using a national form without providing proof of U.S. citizenship will be given full provisional ballots during the Aug. 5 primary elections — but only the votes they cast in federal races will actually be counted, the state’s top election official said Tuesday. Secretary of State Kris Kobach told The Associated Press that fewer than 100 Kansas voters who used the federal registration form without providing citizenship documents will be affected. “No one is disenfranchised — any person can vote a full ballot by providing proof of citizenship,” Kobach said. “The notion a person is disenfranchised because they have to provide proof of citizenship is a silly one.”

Kansas: Decision on Kansas voting law could come in time for general election | Wichita Eagle

A decision on whether the federal government must follow Kansas’ rules requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote could come by the end of September, in time for the Nov. 4 general election, according to a federal agency’s filing in a Denver appeals court. A federal lawyer has suggested that oral arguments in the case could be held as early as July 21 or as late as Sept. 8 and still leave the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals enough time to decide the case by Sept. 30, “in time to inform registration in the run-up to the general election.” The deadline to register for the general election is Oct. 14. The court conflict is over a federal registration form authorized by the national Help America Vote Act. That form requires prospective voters to swear they are citizens, under penalty of law.

Kansas: As counties look at new voting machines, paper ballots are returning | Great Bend Tribune

When it comes to elections, the pendulum just keeps swinging. With electronic voting equipment nearing the end of this life expectancy, Barton County Election Officer Donna Zimmerman is eyeing the future and sees a need for a change. This change could include a return to the old-school paper ballots. With such an evolution on the horizon, Zimmerman hosted a voting equipment demonstration in the Barton County Courthouse Thursday morning. Kansas county clerks and election officials joined her staff for the presentations. Participants witnessed demonstrations from multiple voting system manufacturers. ElectionSource of Grand Rapids, Mich., presented Dominion Voting Systems and Henry M. Adkins & Son of Clinton, Mo., presented Unisyn Voting Solutions. “It appears that the trend is to return to paper ballots with equipment only for used by those with disabilities,” Zimmerman said. “This is the yo-yo in elections. It seems really weird that we’re going back to paper ballots,” said Darin DeWitt, Barton County voter registration clerk. “It’s like two steps backward.” DeWitt and Zimmerman were among the handful of election officials huddled around the pricey new equipment in the Barton County Commission chambers to hear the sales pitch for from ElectionSource.

Kansas: Clay County to return to paper ballots | Center Dispatch

Those fancy voting machines with touch-pad screens will no longer be used in elections in Clay County. County Clerk Kayla Wang, also the county’s election officer, recommended that the county follow what other counties are doing and return to voting on a paper ballot, according to the meeting minutes. The recommendation is based on presentations commissioners and the Clerk;s Office attended on new voting equipment, which included two demonstrations over the last couple of months. Expense is part of the reason the county is returning to paper ballots. The main reason is that the current election equipment that Clay County uses is no longer being made or supported, Wang said. Most of the state of Kansas is going back to voting on a paper ballot and using a precinct counter at each polling place to tabulate the votes.

Kansas: Federal lawsuit dismissed, ending challenge to Kansas law requiring voters to show photo ID | Associated Press

Two elderly northeast Kansas men have dropped a lawsuit challenging a state law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, with a trial in federal court not set until next year. Attorney Jim Lawing said Thursday that Arthur Spry and Charles Hamner asked to have the case dismissed because the case would not be heard before this year’s elections. Also, he said, they found requests for personal information too intrusive. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil in Kansas City, Kansas, granted their request Wednesday for a dismissal. The judge was still considering whether the case should be heard in federal court or state court, as the two men had wanted. Spry and Hamner, both over 80, live in a retirement home in Overbrook, about 20 miles southeast of Topeka. They sued Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the state’s top elections official and the architect of the photo ID law, after Osage County officials refused to count their votes in the November 2012. The two men couldn’t produce a valid photo ID.

Kansas: Program run by Kobach checks voter registration records of more than 100 million people | Lawrence Journal-World

A little-known program run by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach goes through more than 100 million voter records from states across the nation. Called Interstate Crosscheck, or “The Kansas Project,” the program compares voter registration records from one state with 27 other participating states to check for duplicate voter registrations and possible double voting. The goal of the program is to clear up registration rolls, Kobach said. Nearly all double registrations are unintentional, resulting from a person moving from one state to another and re-registering to vote, Kobach says. But the computer program drills down further to try to find voters who may have voted in two separate states, he said. It’s a program that Kobach’s office provides for free. “It’s a state-run program that Kansas has developed and it’s a service for the whole country,” Kobach said. The project has generated some controversy. Earlier this month, Republican officials in North Carolina, a key battleground state, said the Interstate Crosscheck uncovered proof of widespread voter fraud. But after those initial reports, officials have walked back those assertions and were focusing on investigating a much smaller number of potential cases.

Kansas: ACLU lawsuit against Kobach returned to Kansas court | Associated Press

A federal judge agreed Tuesday with the American Civil Liberties Union that a state court should decide a lawsuit challenging Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s enforcement of the state’s voter-citizenship rule. The lawsuit attacks a policy Kobach said he was considering to restrict Kansans who use a national voter-registration form to casting ballots only in presidential, U.S. Senate and congressional races. The ACLU argued Kobach has no authority under Kansas law to impose the policy and it would violate voters’ right to equal legal protection under the state constitution. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren in Wichita returned the case to Shawnee County District Court, where it initially was filed in November on behalf of two voters and the gay-rights group Equality Kansas.

Kansas: New voting laws adding to confusion, Douglas County election official says | Lawrence Journal World

Douglas County’s chief election official, County Clerk Jamie Shew, says he wishes legislators who keep passing new voting laws would be around to deal with angry voters who are tripped up by the changes. “We’ll get yelled at,” over the newest proposal, Shew predicted. The bill says no one who is registered as a Republican, Democrat or Libertarian will be able to switch party affiliation between June 1, which is the deadline for candidates to file for office for the Aug. 5 Republican and Democratic primaries, and the end of August. Current law says voters registered with a party can switch to another party up until two weeks before the primary. Republicans, who are the majority party in Kansas, see this proposed restriction as a way to stop Democrats from switching parties to influence GOP primaries, whether to try to set up the weakest Republican candidate for the general election or to elect the Republican candidate most aligned with their interests when there is little or no Democratic opposition in the November general election.

Kansas: State can require proof of citizenship for voters in federal elections, judge rules | Kansas City Star

Kansas and Arizona can require voters to produce proof of citizenship before letting them vote in federal elections, a judge ruled Wednesday. The federal judge dealt the two states a decided win, ruling that the federal government overstepped its authority by limiting what the states could require of prospective voters. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren ordered the Election Assistance Commission to immediately modify the federal voter registration form for Kansas and Arizona to include proof of citizenship. “Kansas has paved the way for all states to enact proof-of-citizenship requirements,” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said. Commission spokesman Bryan Whitener declined to comment, saying the ruling is being reviewed. He wouldn’t say how long it would take to change the federal registration form to comply with the decision.

Kansas: Senate passes bill limiting pre-primary party switches | Wichita Eagle

A bill that would prevent voters from switching political parties after the filing deadline for candidates is on its way to the governor. The Senate voted 27-12 on Wednesday to approve the bill; the House approved it last year. House Bill 2210 would prevent voters who have a party affiliation from switching after the June 1 filing deadline until after primary results are certified in August. It would allow unaffiliated voters to change registration. Current law allows voters to change parties up to two weeks before the primary election. During the primary, voters affiliated with a party select one candidate from the party in each race to advance to the general election.

Kansas: GOP pushes for legislation aimed at reducing party switching | Lawrence Journal-World

The Kansas Republican Party on Wednesday pushed for passage of a bill aimed at reducing the number of voters who switch parties before the primary to hurt the GOP. The bill would essentially prevent registered voters from changing their party affiliation from June 1 through Sept. 1. Currently, voters registered as Republicans, Democrats or Libertarian can change their party affiliation up to 21 days before the August primaries. Unaffiliated voters can declare a party affiliation at any time. Clay Barker, executive director of the state Republican Party, said the primary election belongs to the political party, not the general public, and is the party’s mechanism to select its candidates. Barker said he believed third-party groups were urging voters to switch parties to advance an inferior candidate who would then face the opposition party’s candidate in the general election. But neither Barker, nor state Rep. Keith Esau, R-Olathe, the main supporters of House Bill 2210, could provide examples of party-switching occurring as part of political gamesmanship.

Kansas: Law professor says ‘dual elections’ a real possibility this year | Lawrence Journal World

A leading scholar in Kansas election law says there’s a real possibility the state will end up holding “dual” elections this year in which some voters are only allowed to vote in federal elections, but not in state or local elections. Reggie Robinson, a former president of the Kansas Board of Regents who now teaches at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, said that could be the result of legal battles now pending in federal courts over the state’s requirement that new voters show proof of citizenship to register. “In Kansas, Secretary (of State Kris) Kobach has said we may have to do this and has already begun to make plans,” Robinson said in a speech to the Lawrence Rotary Club. “I know he’s communicated to local election officials.”

Kansas: Kobach: Birth-records scan helps 7,700 Kansas voters meet citizenship requirement | Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Wednesday that comparing voter registration applications against Kansas birth certificates will reduce the backlog of registrants whose voting rights are on hold for not providing proof-of-citizenship documents. Checking the state’s birth certificates has reduced the number of prospective registrants who can’t vote by 7,700, from slightly more than 20,000 to about 12,500, Kobach said in testimony before the House Elections Committee. The backlog of suspended registrants has been a significant concern to some legislators and voting-rights advocates who object to the Secure and Fair Elections Act, a Kobach-inspired law that requires voters to provide proof of citizenship before they can become eligible to vote.

Kansas: Democrats submit voter registration reform bill | Capital-Journal

Democrats in the Kansas House and Senate opened the legislative session Monday by introducing a bill intended to counter obstacles to registration and voting raised by the state’s proof-of-citizenship mandate. Rep. Jim Ward and Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, Wichita Democrats, proposed the Protection Against Voter Suppression Act. The bill adds a provision similar to federal law that would permit Kansans to vote after signing an affidavit stating they are a U.S. citizen. False statements could be prosecuted as a felony crime. The target of the legislation is a proof-of-citizenship law championed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, adopted by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback.

Kansas: State to add voters to rolls by comparing birth certificates | Kansas City Star

More than 19,000 of the Kansans who signed up to vote to last year saw their registrations set aside because they didn’t prove their U.S. citizenship to the state. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has a plan to make more of those voters eligible. His solution might cause even more legal problems. Kobach wants to match the list of suspended registrations with records kept at the state health department to determine who has Kansas birth certificates, one of the documents accepted for proving citizenship. The state’s vital statistics office will compare lists of would-be voters to its records. Kobach’s office would be notified when matches are confirmed. The procedure will be followed in the future as Kansans register to vote. “This, in my view, is good government,” Kobach said. But critics were quick to point out that Kobach’s idea could pose constitutional problems because it treats voters born in Kansas differently from voters born elsewhere.

Kansas: Voter citizenship law facing new scrutiny | Associated Press

A proof-of-citizenship requirement for Kansas voters is likely to come under attack once the Legislature opens its annual session, but the debate over the policy championed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach also will play in out in federal court and his re-election campaign. The law took effect at the start of the year and requires new voters to produce a birth certificate, passport or other documentation of their U.S. citizenship when registering. As the year ends, more than 19,000 Kansas residents find their registrations on hold — keeping them from legally casting ballots — because they haven’t complied. Several Democratic lawmakers have proposed rewriting or repealing the proof-of-citizenship law, and even some of Kobach’s fellow Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature want to look for ways to shrink the list of affected voters. Former state Sen. Jean Schodorf, the expected Democratic challenger for Kobach, is calling on legislators to audit how Kobach’s office has administered the law once they convene Jan. 13.

Kansas: Kris Kobach draws unusual attention to sleepy Kansas office of secretary of state | Kansas City Star

When Bill Graves plunged into Kansas politics in 1986 to run for secretary of state, he needed more than just money and statewide support. “One of the hardest challenges on the campaign trail was to explain what the secretary of state did. I mean, why should it matter?” the former governor told historians. “How do you generate some energy?” Experts don’t expect that to be a problem for Kris Kobach, the current Republican secretary of state who has been a polarizing figure partly because of his efforts in Kansas and beyond to crack down on undocumented immigrants. Kobach is running for a second term. He has drawn Democratic opposition from Jean Schodorf, a former Republican state senator from Wichita defeated in the conservative sweep of 2012. Schodorf was part of the moderate Republican leadership team that controlled the state Senate until 2012. She grew up on a farm in southeast Kansas. Her brother is Bill Kurtis, the Kansas television personality who hosted the long-running A&E series “Investigative Reports.”