Kansas: Idea could make voting easier, but faces Kobach opposition | The Wichita Eagle

Voting-rights advocates are floating a proposal that could make it easier to vote, but the state’s top election official is dead-set against it, raising the possibility of voter fraud. The idea is election-day registration, a system used by 16 states and the District of Columbia, where voters can register or update their voting information at the polling place on election day. “All the states that have election-day registration are at the top of voter turnout,” voting-rights expert Kevin Kennedy said in the keynote speech at “Democracy Tomorrow,” a daylong voting-rights seminar held Friday at Wichita State University’s Hughes Metropolitan Complex. About 10 to 15 percent of voters take advantage of the same-day option in the states that have it, Kennedy said. It especially attracts late deciders, who may not think about voting until the election is upon them, he said. While some election officials consider those voters to be lazy, “I’m thinking they’re busy,” he said.

Kansas: In Response To Justice Department, Kobach Cites Voter Database As Key Kansas Resource | HPPR

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is touting a controversial multistate voter database as a key resource in response to U.S. Department of Justice questions about Kansas’ compliance with federal voting law. In a recent letter to the Justice Department, obtained by the Kansas News Service through an open records request, Kobach describes the database as “one of the most important systems” Kansas uses to check the accuracy of voter rolls. … Critics, however, question the program’s value, saying poor data quality means there is far greater potential for mistakenly assuming people with the same name and birthdate to be the same person.

Kansas: Sedgwick County Commission Wants Election Audit Legislation Passed In 2018 | KMUW

The Sedgwick County Commission is seeking state approval to do voting machine audits regularly. The commission is working to get legislation passed in 2018 that will allow audits of election results. Currently, the state of Kansas does not allow a review of ballots, except as it relates to specific election challenges. Lawmakers failed to pass a bill on election audits last year. Commissioner Jim Howell says there is broad support for the legislation for the upcoming 2018 session. He says Sedgwick County’s new voting machines are designed for audits. “We would like to do random sample auditing across our county, and that would add a lot of transparency and a lot of confidence in our election process, and right now we don’t have that,” Howell says.

Kansas: Kobach’s office files 2 new election fraud cases in Kansas | Lawrence Journal World

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office has filed two new criminal election fraud cases, including one alleging that a non-U.S. citizen illegally attempted to vote last year. The three felony charges filed earlier this month in Johnson County against Sergio Salgado-Juarez marked the second time in two years that Kobach’s office has prosecuted a noncitizen for voting or attempting to vote. Legislators gave his office the authority to prosecute election fraud cases in 2015, making him the only top state elections official in the nation with that power. Ten of the 12 cases filed by Kobach’s office have charged people with voting illegally in Kansas while voting in the same elections in other states. His office filed four felony charges earlier this month in Franklin County against David E. Haddock, alleging he voted there last year while also voting in Colorado.

Kansas: Uncounted ballots fuel fears about Kobach’s proposals | Associated Press

A conservative firebrand promoting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud oversees a Kansas election system that threw out at least three times as many ballots as any similarly sized state did, fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard. Only six states – all among the top 10 in population – discarded more votes during the 2016 election than the 33rd-largest state of Kansas, according to data collected by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency that certifies voting systems. Kansas’ 13,717 rejected ballots even topped the 13,461 from Florida, which has about seven times as many residents. Critics of Kansas’ election system argue its unusually high number of discarded ballots reflects policies shaped over several elections that have resulted in many legitimate voters being kept off voter rolls in an effort to crack down on a few illegitimate ones.

Kansas: The Hardscrapple Controversy of Discarded Votes | Associated Press

A conservative firebrand promoting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud oversees a Kansas election system that threw out at least three times as many ballots as any similarly sized state did, fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard. Only six states — all among the top 10 in population — discarded more votes during the 2016 election than the 33rd-largest state of Kansas, according to data collected by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency that certifies voting systems. Kansas’ 13,717 rejected ballots even topped the 13,461 from Florida, which has about seven times as many residents. Critics of Kansas’ election system argue its unusually high number of discarded ballots reflects policies shaped over several elections that have resulted in many legitimate voters being kept off voter rolls in an effort to crack down on a few illegitimate ones.

Kansas: Trial to examine bias claim against Kobach’s office | Associated Press

A former employee in Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office alleges in a lawsuit headed to trial Monday that she was fired because she didn’t go to church enough. Kobach — who until the middle of 2016 held after-hours Christian prayer and Bible study sessions in his office — has called the allegation of religious discrimination by Courtney Canfield “ridiculous.” His office contends she was fired over performance issues. The lawsuit blames Kobach’s chief deputy, Eric Rucker, for the firing and Kobach himself is not a defendant. But the case is sure to draw attention to Kobach, a Republican with a national reputation for championing tough voter identification laws and helping to draft proposals in numerous states aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

Kansas: 16-year-old is running for Kansas governor seat | Kansas City Star

He won’t even be able to vote, but a 16-year-old Wichita high school student says he’s serious about his bid to run for governor of Kansas. Jack Bergerson has filed to run as a Democrat in the 2018 race for governor of Kansas, saying he wanted to give people another option, The Kansas City Star reported . And it doesn’t faze him that he won’t even be old enough to vote in the election. “Under Kansas law, there is no law governing the qualifications for governor, not one,” said Bryan Caskey, director of elections at the Kansas secretary of state’s office. “So there’s seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing.” When Bergeson, a junior at The Independent School in Wichita, found out about the lack of requirements, he thought, “Oh, I could do that.”

Kansas: Appeals court ruling requires Kobach to testify under oath | The Washington Post

A federal appeals court ruling will force Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to answer questions under oath about plans to change U.S. election law. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied the Kansas Republican’s request for an emergency stay of his deposition by the American Civil Liberties Union. Kobach’s office declined to comment on the decision. Judges in Kansas found Kobach misled the court about the contents of a document he took into a November meeting with then-President-elect Donald Trump and a separate draft amendment to the National Voter Registration Act.

Kansas: Kobach had duty to publicize new voting schedule; it appears that he didn’t | Lawrence Journal World

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach does not appear to have conducted any public information campaign, as required by law, to publicize the fact that the state recently shifted the election cycle for municipal elections from the spring to the fall of odd-numbered years. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew cited that as one possible explanation for why voter turnout in the county was lower than expected on Tuesday, when the first municipal elections took place in Kansas under the new cycle. “We tried to get what word out that we could,” he said during a phone interview Tuesday. “I think there was an anticipation that there would be kind of a statewide push getting information out. We’ll kind of evaluate it for us, how we increase that push locally.”

Kansas: Couple complains to Kobach of ‘degrading’ voting experience | The Wichita Eagle

A Wichita couple has written an open letter to Secretary of State Kris Kobach complaining that they were subjected to “degrading, humiliating, demeaning, and unnecessary drama” in casting their votes in Wichita’s District 1 City Council election. Eugene and Mamie Jewel Anderson didn’t get the mail ballots they requested, although they have lived at the same address for 49 years. They had to fill out forms and cast provisional votes when they showed up in person at an advance voting site. In their letter, the Andersons questioned whether where they live – a historically black area of Wichita – may have been part of the difficulties. “Well, we jumped through all of those hoops, and were allowed to cast our Provisional ballots,” the letter said. “However, we are deeply concerned! Will we experience the same degrading, humiliating, demeaning, and unnecessary drama when we request advance ballots for the non-partisan General Election? Or is there a deeper problem of residing in a specific zip code or something else?”

Kansas: Kobach Statements ‘Demonstrate a Pattern’ of Misleading Claims | The Atlantic

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could use a little credibility at the moment. President Trump’s so-called election-integrity commission, of which he is the de facto chief, has come under suspicion for both its methods and its purpose. But citizens seeking assurance about Kobach’s motives won’t find that from the federal courts. In a ruling yesterday, flagged by the indefatigable Rick Hasen, Judge Julie Robinson of the U.S. District Court of Kansas rejected Kobach’s request that she overturn a $1,000 fine levied on him by a U.S. magistrate judge. That wasn’t the most significant part of the ruling. Over 13 pages, Robinson carefully lays out ways in which Kobach appeared to be playing fast and loose with the facts in the lower court. And in affirming Magistrate Judge James O’Hara’s fine, she became the second federal judge to deem Kobach at the very least misleading in his court appearances. …  Robinson, a George W. Bush appointee, continued that “these examples… demonstrate a pattern, which gives further credence to Judge O’Hara’s conclusion that a sanctions award is necessary to deter defense counsel in this case from misleading the Court about the facts and record in the future.” In the dry language of federal courts—a federal judge is unlikely to call a statewide official a liar—that’s a stinging judgment on Kobach’s honesty.

Kansas: Judge OKs Sanction of Kobach in Voting-Rights Case | Courthouse News

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s request to reconsider a magistrate judge’s sanctions, finding Kobach has shown a pattern of misleading the court in a voting-rights case. In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson refused Kobach’s request to reconsider a $1,000 fine issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara, as well as O’Hara’s order that Kobach submit to a deposition in an ongoing case between the secretary of state and the American Civil Liberties Union over Kansas’ requirement of proof of citizenship for registered voters. O’Hara sanctioned Kobach for misleading the court regarding the nature of voting-policy documents he was photographed with in a November meeting with President Donald Trump. The top sheet of the documents visibly showed suggested policy changes to the National Voter Registration Act which had been requested by the ACLU. After a review, O’Hara ordered Kobach to hand over the documents after finding them relevant to the case.

Kansas: Kris Kobach’s voter fraud work presses on nationally, locally | The Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach started drawing the ire of statewide voting rights advocates years before he was appointed to President Donald Trump’s election integrity commission and continued his work on voter fraud at the commission’s first meeting this week. The controversial champion of strict voting laws long has been known for his claims of voting fraud and landed a national position under Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that illegal votes for former opponent Hillary Clinton cost him the popular vote last fall, though he won the Electoral College. Now, on a national stage, Kobach is hoping to study the election system and supposed voter fraud through the commission, which met for the first time Wednesday.

Kansas: Kansas agency investigates Kobach over voting allegations | Associated Press

A state agency has launched an investigation into Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s involvement in voting cases, including allegations that he misrepresented the content of a document he was photographed taking into a November meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump. The Office of Disciplinary Administration considers misconduct complaints against attorneys, and Kobach — a Republican candidate for Kansas governor next year — is the only secretary of state in the country with prosecutorial powers. He also serves as vice chairman of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which recently set off a nationwide outcry when the commission asked states for detailed information about every voter.

Kansas: Secretary Of State’s Office Updates Voter Registration Information After Questions | KMUW

Kansans who registered to vote at the DMV or otherwise used the federal voter registration form are eligible to vote in all races, according to court rulings, whether they’ve provided a citizenship document or not. But those voters might have been confused by inconsistencies on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s website. On Tuesday, the deadline to register to vote in the primary elections on August 1, the website had contained some conflicting information on the Kansas proof-of-citizenship rule. In accordance with a federal court order issued last October, some parts of the KSSOS.org site, and associated state websites, have been updated. The new language clarifies that voters using the federal registration form aren’t currently subject to the proof-of-citizenship rule and can vote in all races.

Kansas: Inaccuracies Posted On Kansas Secretary Of State Website Through Voter Registration Deadline | KMUW

Kansans who registered to vote at the DMV or otherwise used the federal voter registration form are eligible to vote in all races, according to court rulings, whether they’ve provided a citizenship document or not. But those voters might be confused by inconsistencies on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s website. As of Tuesday, the deadline to register to vote in the primary elections on August 1, the website contained conflicting information on the Kansas proof-of-citizenship rule. In accordance with a federal court order issued last October, some parts of the KSSOS.org site, and associated state websites, have been updated. The new language clarifies that voters using the federal registration form aren’t currently subject to the proof-of-citizenship rule and can vote in all races.

Kansas: Kobach Can’t Duck $1,000 Sanction in Voter ID Case | Courthouse News

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach suffered another setback in an ongoing voter ID case with the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday, after a federal judge refused to reconsider an order requiring Kobach to sit for a deposition and pay a $1,000 fine for misleading the court. On June 30, U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara fined Kobach for misleading the court as to the nature of the voting and immigration policy documents he shared with President Donald Trump in a November meeting. Kobach asked O’Hara to reconsider, contending that last-minute changes to the court filing led to the misleading information. Kobach also asked O’Hara to reconsider the deposition requirement, stating it might prevent him from acting as counsel in the case due to a potential conflict of interest. He also said the deposition was “intended to harass, annoy, or embarrass” him.

Kansas: Kobach: Kansas won’t give Social Security info to Kobach-led voter commission at this time | The Kansas City Star

Multiple states plan to buck Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s request for personal information on voters on behalf of a presidential commission. Kobach said Friday that Kansas, at least for now, also won’t be sharing Social Security information with the commission, on which he serves as vice chairman. The state will share other information about the state’s registered voters, including names and addresses, which are subject to the state’s open records laws. Kobach sent letters on behalf of the commission to every state requesting names, addresses, voting history and other personal information, such as the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, earlier this week.

Kansas: Kobach Fined for Misleading the Court | Courthouse News Service

A federal judge slapped Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach with a $1,000-fine Friday for misleading the court about the nature of the documents he was holding while photographed at a November meeting with President Donald Trump. The front page of the documents, widely scrutinized after the Associated Press published the photo, referenced possible changes to national voter laws. The ruling comes from the ongoing class action voting rights lawsuit Fish v. Kobach, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Kansas. The lawsuit alleges that Kansas law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship documents such as birth certificates violates the National Voter Registration Act.

Kansas: Civil rights advocates: ‘Confidential’ documents undercut Kobach’s voting fraud claim | Lawrence Journal-World

A Kansas election official is trying to hide materials that undercut his public claim that substantial numbers of noncitizens have registered to vote and that documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements are necessary to stop it, civil rights advocates contend in a court filing. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the materials as part of its federal civil lawsuit in Kansas challenging the state’s voter registration law that requires people to submit citizenship documents such as a birth certificate, naturalization papers or U.S. passport. It asked a federal judge in a filing late Tuesday to remove the confidential designation that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach placed on materials he was photographed taking into a November meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump, as well as a separate draft amendment to the National Voter Registration Act.

Kansas: The Man Behind Trump’s Voter Fraud Obsession | The New York Times

Kris Kobach likes to bill himself as “the A.C.L.U.’s worst nightmare.” The Kansas secretary of state, who was a champion debater in high school, speaks quickly for a rural Midwesterner, with the confidence of a man who holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Yale Law School, and until January he hosted his own local radio show, which used that line about the A.C.L.U. to introduce each episode. On March 3 he strode into the Robert J. Dole Federal Courthouse in Kansas City, Kan., to face the latest lawsuit filed against him by the civil-liberties organization. In an unusual arrangement for a secretary of state, Kobach, 51, personally argues all of his cases. He seems to see it as a perk of the job — and a mission. The A.C.L.U. has filed four suits against Kobach since he was elected in 2010. All of them challenge some aspect of his signature piece of legislation, the Secure and Fair Elections Act, or SAFE Act, a 2011 state law that requires people to show a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers to register to vote.

Kansas: ACLU seeks sanctions, disclosure of Trump documents | The Kansas City Star

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal court to enable documents from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s November meeting with President Donald Trump to be made public. Kobach earlier this month handed over the documents, which outline a proposed strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under a federal judge’s order. However, he marked the documents as confidential. The ACLU filed a motion with U.S. District Court of Kansas in Kansas City, Kan. late Monday seeking to remove that designation and enable their contents to be shared with the wider public.

Kansas: ‘Kris Kobach Came After Me for an Honest Mistake’ | Politico

When Kris Kobach, Kansas’ aggressive secretary of state, convinced the state legislature to give him prosecutorial power to pursue voter fraud, he said it was necessary to root out tens of thousands of undocumented aliens who were voting as well as tens of thousands more who he claimed were voting in two states. Two years later, Kobach has produced exactly nine convictions. Most of them were not illegal immigrants but rather older registered Republicans. Who Kobach targeted, and the controversial homegrown computer program he used to find them, matter even more now that he has been selected by President Trump to lead a commission on voter fraud. Kobach’s boss has claimed on numerous occasions, without evidence, that millions of illegal ballots cost him the popular vote. Kobach, despite his sweeping pronouncements to Kansas politicians, hasn’t found anything resembling a fraud of that proportion. What he found was Lincoln L. Wilson.

Kansas: Kobach’s office hands over documents from Trump meeting | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office has shared documents from a November meeting with President Donald Trump to the American Civil Liberties Union, but the legal wrangling over the papers is likely to continue after Kobach’s office marked the papers as confidential. Kobach met with Trump in November and was photographed carrying a strategic plan for the Department of Homeland Security. The photograph revealed that the documents contained a reference to voting rolls, and the ACLU has sought access to them as part of an ongoing voting rights case.

Kansas: A Seeker of Kansas Voter Fraud Gets a National Soapbox | The New York Times

Kris W. Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, oversees an office whose clerical and regulatory work costs the state’s taxpayers barely $5.5 million a year. But he has parlayed that modest post into a national platform for tough restrictions on voting rights and immigration, becoming both a celebrated voice within the Republican Party and a regular target of lawsuits by civil rights advocates. Now, as vice chairman of the new Advisory Commission on Election Integrity announced by the White House on Thursday (Vice President Mike Pence is the titular chairman), Mr. Kobach has a far bigger soapbox for his views on voter fraud — which Republicans, including President Trump, call a cancer on democracy. Others say it is a pretense for discouraging the poor, minorities and other typically Democratic-leaning voters from casting ballots. Academic studies regularly show — and most state election officials agree — that fraud is rare, and that the kind of fraud Republicans seek to address with voter ID laws is minuscule.

Kansas: Kobach told to disclose voting plan he took to Trump | Associated Press

A federal judge has given Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach until Friday to give the American Civil Liberties Union two documents outlining proposed changes to a federal voting law. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson said Wednesday that she privately reviewed the documents, including the one Kobach was photographed taking into a meeting with then-President-elect Donald Trump in November. Robinson said she found no error in a magistrate’s April 17 ruling requiring Kobach to produce the redacted documents as part of a lawsuit challenging the state’s voter registration requirements. The ACLU is representing some Kansas voters and the League of Women Voters in that lawsuit.

Kansas: Post-Election Voter Registration Battle Continues in Kansas | Courthouse News

A federal court in Kansas has advanced an ongoing battle over voter registration to trial, striking down motions for summary judgment by both the American Civil Liberties Union and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The ACLU sued Kobach in February 2016, claiming that Kansas law violates the National Voter Registration Act by requiring proof of citizenship to register. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson disagreed that the registration requirement hinders voters’ right to travel under the 14th Amendment’s Privileges and Immunities Clause, which prohibits states from discriminating against citizens from other states.

Kansas: Lawsuits over Kansas voter registration law remain on track | Associated Press

Legal challenges to a Kansas law requiring documentary proof of citizenship remain on track for trial after rulings Thursday in two separate federal cases. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson issued decisions that keep both cases alive in the courts. The judge denied a motion for partial summary judgment sought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the League of Women Voters and voters. Robinson rejected the claim that the proof of citizenship law discriminates against people born outside Kansas. But the key argument in the ACLU lawsuit is that the Kansas law violates the National Voter Registration Act, a federal law that requires only minimal information to register to vote. The ACLU contends that an assurance of U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury is sufficient.

Kansas: Kris Kobach wins stay of order to turn over documents from Donald Trump meeting | The Wichita Eagle

A federal magistrate judge has agreed to stay an order requiring Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to hand over documents from a meeting with President Donald Trump pending the results of an appeal. Judge James O’Hara in Kansas City, Kan., ordered Kobach Monday to provide the documents to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of the discovery process for an ongoing federal lawsuit seeking to overturn a Kansas law that requires voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, when they registered to vote.