Kansas: House fixes election law to fill Pompeo seat | The Wichita Eagle

Updating special-election rules that haven’t been touched since the 1950s, the state House on Thursday approved a bill to fix problems with the process for replacing U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo. The bill extends the time period for holding a special election, allows the Libertarian Party to nominate a candidate like the Republicans and Democrats, and eases the signature burden for independent candidates. The measure passed 122-1. It will go to the Senate next week. It is unusual for the House to pass substantive legislation in the first week of a session. House Bill 2017 is fast-tracked because President-elect Donald Trump has selected Pompeo to serve as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Kansas: Bill seeks to clarify special election to replace Pompeo | The Wichita Eagle

A bill to fix scheduling and ballot-access problems for an upcoming election to replace Rep. Mike Pompeo is set to be considered in the Kansas House on Thursday. House Bill 2017 would revise current state law to comply with federal deadlines for sending military absentee ballots overseas. The bill also would allow the Libertarian Party to field a candidate in the special election and ease the signature requirement for independent candidates to get on the ballot. Rep. Keith Esau, R-Olathe and chairman of the House Elections Committee, said he expects a floor vote on the bill Thursday. The bill is being fast-tracked because Pompeo has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Central Intelligence Agency, and he is expected to be confirmed by the Senate in a matter of days. That will create a vacancy in the Wichita-based 4th Congressional District, which must be filled by a special election.

Kansas: Lawmaker seeks to strip Kris Kobach of power to prosecute voting crimes | The Wichita Eagle

A Wichita state representative has filed a bill to strip Secretary of State Kris Kobach of his authority to prosecute election crimes. Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, said allowing Kobach to bring criminal cases has not uncovered evidence of illegal immigrant voting fraud, which was a big part of Kobach’s pitch when the Legislature granted him prosecutorial power in 2015. “Since that time, he has commenced approximately 10 of those prosecutions, all of them against United States citizens and in virtually every instance, against folks who made mistakes in casting their ballots,” Carmichael said. “Some of these cases have since been dismissed … as unfounded, and a handful more have resulted in minimal fines against otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Kansas: The complicated, messy logistics of a potential special election | The Wichita Eagle

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman says one of the main questions she gets is what her department does between elections. “I kind of laugh and say, ‘When are we between elections?’ ” she said. Sedgwick County was supposed to have a longer break before its next countywide election. Then President-elect Trump nominated 4th District Congressman Mike Pompeo to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. “We were supposed to be ‘between elections’ right now,” Lehman said at a county commission meeting this month. “We no longer are.” If Pompeo is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, his replacement will be chosen by the voters of the 4th District, which includes Sedgwick County and most of south-central Kansas. Officials will need to work quickly to set up polling locations and get workers for the polls. And if the county’s new voting machines aren’t ready in time, most voters will cast paper ballots.

Kansas: Reno commission to consider $538,000-plus voting machine purchase | Hutchinson News

A proposed half-million-dollar-plus purchase of new voting equipment by the Reno County Clerk’s Office will move the county back to all paper ballots. The Reno County Commission will vote today on awarding the purchase contract, and County Clerk Donna Patton and Election Officer Jenna Fager are recommending equipment from Michigan-based ElectionSource, despite it being the highest of three bids. They anticipate savings in printing costs will more than offset the $13,000 in additional costs, Patton advised the commission last week. Overall, the contract – including discounts for trade-in, a multi-county group discount and signing a contract before the end of the year – is for $538,830. Reoccurring annual fees, after the first year, for software and firmware licenses and annual maintenance, total some $60,265.

Kansas: Botched balloting keeps tiny Kansas town from dissolving | Associated Press

The central Kansas town of Frederick has dwindled over the decades to just 10 people, and its only real expense is a $55-a-month electric bill for a half-dozen or so street lights that illuminate the unpaved streets. For a community with nine registered voters, the tally at the ballot box last month was 13-7 in favor of keeping Frederick a third-class city. The three workers at the polling place 5 miles to the west handed out the wrong ballots to some voters living outside the city. Local and state officials, at a loss for what to do, are letting the results stand. Either way, it’s unclear whether anything will change for Frederick’s residents. Just off a state highway about 75 miles northwest of Wichita, this city-in-name-only has no approved budget and didn’t elect anyone to any office in its last municipal election in 2015.

Kansas: Software problem slowed Johnson County vote counting on election night | The Kansas City Star

Software that malfunctioned and stalled vote tallying in Johnson County for more than three hours on election night was of the same brand that has been under scrutiny for years and has caused counting errors in other parts of the country. The Global Election Management System – or GEMS – was not the only cause of a breakdown on election night, but it was definitely one of the most frustrating, said county Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker. Vote counters lost hours of time as they waited for help from a technical support person in Nebraska who they hoped could tell them why the system suddenly dropped 2,100 ballots from its database and how to get them back. When that help wasn’t forthcoming, the workers ended up re-scanning the paper ballots so they could be re-loaded into the database. In the end, election officials didn’t get their closing totals out until about 1:30 p.m. the next day, due to the computer breakdown and tidal waves of last-minute registrations and advance votes, Metsker said.

Kansas: Judge: Kobach has no authority for dual election system | Lawrence Journal World

State Kris Kobach from implementing a two-tiered voter registration system, ruling Friday that he “simply lacks the authority” to do so. Shawnee County Judge Larry Hendricks’ latest ruling has no impact on Tuesday’s election because the judge had previously temporarily halted the proposed dual system that would have thrown out votes cast by some Kansas voters in state and local elections. Two recent federal court rulings are already forcing Kansas to let these residents vote in federal elections. The American Civil Liberties Union sued Kobach, challenging an administrative rule that had set up a dual voter registration system. Under his proposed system, Kansas residents who registered at motor vehicle offices or used a national form without providing proof of citizenship would have been able to vote only in federal races.

Kansas: Federal appeals court: Right to vote constitutionally protected | Topeka Capital Journal

A federal appeals court laid out on Wednesday the legal reasoning behind its decision earlier this month that allowed thousands of Kansas residents to register to vote without providing documents proving their U.S. citizenship. The 85-page opinion from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals came a day after voter registration closed in Kansas for the November election. The appeals court had earlier this month upheld a preliminary injunction that forced Kansas to register people who filled out voter applications at motor vehicle offices. “There can be no dispute that the right to vote is a constitutionally protected fundamental right,” the appeals court wrote. The opinion released Wednesday essentially explained why the appeals court upheld U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson’s preliminary injunction requiring the state to register thousands of people for federal elections. The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several prospective voters and the League of Women Voters.

Kansas: Kobach calls Trump’s stance on election results ‘reasonable’ | Associated Press

Kansas’ top election official said Thursday that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was justified in refusing to promise now that he’ll accept the election results, even as the state party chief and a GOP senator on the ballot urged candidates to do so. Secretary of State Kris Kobach called criticism of Trump over his refusal during Wednesday night’s presidential debate to commit to accepting the results “rather amusing.” He said no candidate should concede if the race is close and there are questions about the count, citing the 2000 contest in Florida, decided by fewer than 1,000 votes out of nearly 6 million cast. Trump has claimed that the election might be “rigged” against him. Kobach said he takes those comments to mean close results in several battleground states are susceptible to election fraud, which Kobach termed “entirely plausible.”

Kansas: Kobach asks court to set aside default judgment | Lawrence Journal World

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has asked a federal court to set aside a default judgment against him for failing to file a timely response to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring prospective voters to prove they are U.S. citizens. A federal court clerk earlier this week entered Kobach as being in default in a case concerning the state’s proof-of-citizenship requirement because Kobach had failed to file documents with the court on time. In a motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court, Kobach asked the court to set aside the default judgment, saying he believed the court had suspended certain deadlines in the case. He also criticized his opponents for “trying to play a game of ‘gotcha’ litigation,” The Wichita Eagle reported. “They keep changing their complaint and forcing us to write a new answer,” he said.

Kansas: U.S. elections chief left behind scandal in Kansas | Associated Press

When Brian Newby took the helm of a federal election agency, he left behind an unfolding scandal in Kansas in which he was having an affair with a woman he promoted in his previous job and used her to skirt oversight of their expenses, prompting a local prosecutor to investigate, according to e-mails obtained by the Associated Press. The affair and resulting fallout were revealed in hundreds of e-mails ordered released after the AP sued Johnson County, where Newby was the top election official before leaving to become executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The e-mails – coupled with hundreds more obtained from the Kansas secretary of state’s office through a separate open records request – portray an election official who berated employees and deliberately bypassed supervision. They also document a toxic workplace created by his affair with then-Assistant Election Commissioner Jessica White, an apparent violation of county policy on intimate relationships with subordinates. In a June 2015 exchange from his work e-mail to her personal address, the then-married Newby told White: “You, my little lover, are so wonderful.” Newby and White did not respond to numerous phone and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Kansas: Kobach found in default in proof-of-citizenship lawsuit | The Wichita Eagle

The Kansas requirement that voters provide proof of citizenship could be struck down by a federal court because Secretary of State Kris Kobach failed to file a response earlier this year. The state’s requirement that voters provide a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship when they register to vote had already been weakened after federal courts ruled that the state could not require proof of citizenship of people who register at the Department of Motor Vehicles or with the federal form. However, the requirement remained intact for voters who registered using the state form or through the state’s website.

Kansas: Kobach files late response in voter case | The Wichita Eagle

A federal court will decide whether to excuse Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s late filing in a case about the constitutionality of requiring people to prove they are citizens when they register to vote. Kobach filed an 88-page response in a federal lawsuit Tuesday night, hours after being found in default for failing to respond in time to an amended complaint. A spokeswoman for his office said it still must file a motion to set aside the default. The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a motion to strike Kobach’s late response Wednesday afternoon, contending it was improper because it was not paired with a motion to allow a late filing or set aside the default. “He chose to represent himself in the case, as well as several others, and he has a responsibility to get things filed and filed on time. And at this point, he hasn’t done that,” said Will Lawrence, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs. Kobach did not return phone calls about the case on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Kansas: Court enters default judgment in Kansas voting rights case | Associated Press

A federal court clerk entered a default judgment Tuesday against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for failing to file a timely response to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring prospective voters to prove they are U.S. citizens. It remains unclear whether U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson will give Kobach more time to respond. If the judgment stands it would apply to all voters in all federal, state and local elections — effectively ending the state’s proof-of-citizenship requirement. Kobach did not immediately return a cellphone message, but spokeswoman Desiree Taliaferro said he would comment.

Kansas: Kris Kobach keeps fighting, sometimes uphill, for stringent immigration laws | Lawrence Journal World

If there was any question whether the immigration debate is still raging in the heartland, it was probably settled the moment that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach demanded the birth certificate of a 90-year-old World War II pilot. On a stiflingly humid September day in central Kansas, Kobach pushed through the courtroom door, head bowed, a storm cloud on his face. His ever-present red tie, front-swept hair and 2-inch sideburns framed an even jawline. He is a secretary of state here, a man who has authored some of the most stringent immigration legislation in the country — often traveling the nation to argue his own cases — and has cleared a viable path to the governor’s mansion. Behind a lectern facing the judge, an ACLU attorney finished her initial fusillade of oral arguments with a comment directed at Kobach. “He has to use such convoluted reasoning,” said Sophia Lin Larkin, representing a class of voters who the ACLU argued was being treated as second-class citizens in Kobach’s voting system. “This is simply another variation of his mistaken understanding in this case.” Kobach’s understanding of the voting-rights case is an extension of his philosophy on rights accorded to any American: They are conditional offers that only apply to those who can prove their citizenship.

Kansas: Appeals court rules against Kobach in voting rights case | Associated Press

Thousands of prospective voters in Kansas who did not provide citizenship documents will be able to vote in the November election under a federal appeals court ruling late Friday that upheld a judge’s order. The decision from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirms lower court’s May order forcing Kansas to register more than 20,000 voters, a number that is expected to swell to 50,000 by the time of the November elections. It noted that the preliminary injunction serves the public interest. The 10th Circuit ruled “no constitutional doubt arises” that federal law prohibits Kansas from requiring citizenship documents from people who register to vote at motor vehicle office. It added that its reasoning would be more fully explained in a forthcoming order.

Kansas: Kobach, ACLU reach agreement over DMV voters | The Wichita Eagle

Thousands of Kansas voters will be allowed to cast regular ballots in local, state and federal elections in November without providing proof of citizenship under an agreement forged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The agreement was announced Thursday, a day before Kobach was to appear in court for a contempt hearing. The hearing was canceled shortly after the agreement was filed in court. Federal Judge Julie Robinson had ordered Kobach in May to ensure that people who registered to vote at the DMV could vote in November’s election under the federal Motor Voter Act regardless of whether they had provided proof of citizenship. There were more than 18,600 such voters earlier this month. Kobach and the ACLU, representing the plaintiffs, disagree about what that order entails, but they have resolved the most pressing issues. Voters can cast their ballots unimpeded on Nov. 8 while the case continues to be litigated. Under the agreement, Kobach will instruct local election officials to send out a new notice “that unequivocally advises covered voters that they are ‘deemed registered and qualified to vote for the appropriate local, state and federal elections’ ” in the Nov. 8 general election.

Kansas: Judge extends order to ensure thousands can vote in November | The Wichita Eagle

A Shawnee County judge has issued an order that should ensure that thousands of people are able to vote in state and local elections this November. Judge Larry Hendricks previously issued a preliminary order that people who registered to vote at the DMV could vote in the August primary regardless of whether they had provided proof of citizenship. He has now extended that order through the Nov. 8 general election. He has also amended his order to require that Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the defendant in the case, ensure that these 18,000 voters are given timely notice by local election offices that they qualify to vote in federal, state and local races in the general election. Kobach will face a contempt hearing this week in a separate federal case over allegations that he has failed to ensure these voters are registered and informed of their status.

Kansas: Judge extends voting rights for those registered at motor vehicle offices | Reuters

A Kansas judge extended voting rights through the Nov. 8 election of about 17,500 people who registered to vote at motor vehicle offices, court documents showed on Tuesday in one of the cases highlighting a political battle over identification laws enacted in Republican-led states. The ruling impacts people who submitted voter applications through Kansas motor vehicle offices but failed to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. The ruling by Judge Larry Hendricks of the third judicial court in Shawnee, Kansas, extends the temporary injunction he issued last month. Under a state law that took effect in 2013, they were required to present a document such as a birth certificate. The judge’s ruling made on Friday said that the Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, must instruct election officials to allow the around 17,500 residents to “…vote for all offices on the ballot and to count all the votes cast on that ballot.”

Kansas: Federal judge orders Kris Kobach to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt | Topeka Capital-Journal

A federal judge on Monday ordered Secretary of State Kris Kobach to appear at a hearing later this week to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court. U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson issued the order in an ongoing voting rights lawsuit. The plaintiffs contend Kobach has failed to register individuals applying at Division of Motor Vehicle offices who haven’t shown proof of citizenship — despite a federal order. Robinson directs Kobach to appear at the Friday hearing, and says he may file a written reply by the end of business Thursday. Late last week, the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, asked Robinson to order Kobach to comply.

Kansas: DC group wants inspector general to examine Brian Newby’s voter decision | The Kansas City Star

A Washington group has renewed its call for an investigation of Brian Newby, the former head of the Johnson County Election Office and now in charge of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, or EAC. Allied Progress has written the EAC’s inspector general, asking her to examine Newby’s decision to approve applications from three states, including Kansas, to modify their federal registration forms in order to require documentary proof of citizenship to register. Newby made the decision to allow the changes despite the absence of formal approval from the EAC’s board of comissioners. Newby said he had the authority to make the decision on his own. Several groups sued to stop implementation of the requirement. In September, a federal appeals court blocked Kansas and the other states from changing their federal forms to require citizenship proof.

Kansas: Voting rights group says 6,570 Kansas registrations purged | Lawrence Journal World

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has discarded as of August the registrations of about 6,570 prospective voters under a rule that allows him to purge them after 90 days primarily for lack of proof of citizenship, the League of Women Voters said Tuesday. Those prospective voters whose names are missing likely registered at some place other than a motor vehicle office and so their right to vote is not protected by recent court orders compelling Kobach to keep them on the rolls. They would need to register again in order to vote in November. “Today, it feels like a lot of people,” said Marge Ahrens, co-president of the League’s Kansas chapter. “We have many (Kansas) towns that are not that big.” Kobach’s spokesman, Craig McCullah, said Tuesday he could not immediately confirm whether the League’s figures are accurate.

Kansas: With proof of citizenship voting law under siege, Kobach battles on multiple fronts | Topeka Capital-Journal

Kris Kobach made his way around the room without breaking a sweat. Having just finished debating a KU adjunct professor for an hour over his signature voting laws at the Dole Institute of Politics on the university’s campus Tuesday night, the Kansas secretary of state didn’t drop his smile. He fielded questions during a question-and-answer session, including a query that implied Hillary Clinton’s campaign had rigged electronic voting machines during her race against Bernie Sanders. He listened as a woman spoke with him about immigration and an out-of-town camera crew followed his moves. The frenzied pace of Kobach’s evening mirrors his public life at the moment. Kansas’ proof of citizenship voting law, championed by Kobach, is being challenged in multiple courts, and he’s flown across the country to defend it before judges. Those efforts have so far been largely unsuccessful. The state’s law that requires individuals to produce documents such as a birth certificate to register to vote has suffered multiple blows in court. The latest ruling averse to Kobach came just a week ago.

Kansas: Local officials must identify Kansas voters affected by ruling | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas county election offices are sorting through thousands of records to identify voters affected by a recent federal court order, according to Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit blocked Kansas and two other states from requiring proof of citizenship from people who register to vote using the federal form. Kobach said the state’s voter database does not differentiate between people who register with the federal form and the state form, so local election officers will have to physically go through paper records of people who tried to register since January to determine which voters were affected by the ruling. He estimated the number of people affected would be between 200 and 400 statewide. The state began requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when they register to vote in 2013. Before this year, federal form registrants were allowed to cast ballots in federal elections regardless of whether they provided proof of citizenship.

Kansas: Kobach, Johnson exchange blows in voter law debate | Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach claimed Tuesday night to be a national leader in voter security by championing adoption of laws requiring proof of citizenship to register, photograph identification to cast a ballot and mail-in ballot restrictions. Lawyer Mark Johnson, sitting to Kobach’s right at the Dole Institute of Politics, said the Republican secretary of state was a central advocate for reform of voting law, undoubtedly popular, that ought to be declared unconstitutional for serving as a deterrent to participation in elections. With the legal adversaries eager to joust, the point-counterpoint on U.S. election law was set in motion during a Constitution Day program inspired by allegations of voter suppression and claims of newfound election integrity. “

Kansas: Federal court blocks Kansas voting rule | The Wichita Eagle

A federal court has blocked Kansas and two other states from requiring voters to show proof of citizenship if they register using the federal form. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission approved a controversial rule in late January to allow Kansas, Georgia and Alabama to require proof of citizenship from voters who register using the federal form. The League of Women Voters brought a lawsuit against the rule, and the U.S. Circuit of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction Friday by a 2-1 decision. Under the order, Kansas can no longer require people to show proof of citizenship when they register using the federal form and must allow anyone who registered after Jan. 29 to vote regardless of whether they provided proof of citizenship.

Kansas: Courts Will Rule Whether Thousands of Kansas Residents Can Vote | News21

For years, Kris Kobach has fought against illegal immigration. He helped write two of the nation’s most strict immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama and helped develop a now-defunct national immigration security system. Now Kobach, the Republican secretary of state for Kansas, is embroiled in court fights over his repeated attempts to require Kansans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. Although he has repeatedly lost in court, one case that remains open will determine whether thousands of Kansans will be able to vote in November’s local and state elections. The saga began in 2011 when Kansas passed the Secure and Fair Elections Act. The law, written by Kobach, requires those registering to vote after Jan. 1, 2013, to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a passport. … In September 2013, the ACLU sued Kobach, contending that the proof of citizenship requirement split Kansas voters into two “separate and unequal classes.” In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not require proof of citizenship for people who register using the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s national mail voter registration form. Kobach was allowing those who registered in Kansas with proof of citizenship to vote in all elections, but prohibited those who registered with the EAC form – without proof of citizenship – from voting in state and local elections in Kansas.

Kansas: State Supreme Court asked to order grand jury on Kobach | The Wichita Eagle

A former legislative candidate is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to force a grand jury investigation of Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Steven X. Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said Tuesday that he has asked the state’s highest court to require that the Douglas County District Court summon a grand jury. Davis said in a statement that the jury needs to investigate Kobach because of rumors that his office intentionally suppressed voter registration. Davis does say that his evidence is slim. By law, people in Kansas can call for a grand jury investigation by gathering a specific number of signatures. Six states, including Kansas, let citizens petition for a grand jury. Davis said he successfully gathered the signatures and submitted them in late July.

Kansas: Federal court considers Kansas rule that voters prove citizenship | The Wichita Eagle

A federal appeals court will decide whether Kansas has the right to ask people who register to vote when they get their driver’s licenses for proof that they’re citizens. The decision could affect whether thousands of Kansas residents have their ballots counted in November’s election. Three judges from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Tuesday from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the American Civil Liberties Union but didn’t indicate how soon they could rule. Kansas wants the court to overturn a ruling by a federal judge in May that temporarily blocked the state from disenfranchising people who registered at motor vehicle offices but didn’t provide documents such as birth certificates or naturalization papers. That was about 18,000 people at the time. If the order is allowed to stand, the state says up to an estimated 50,000 people who haven’t proven they’re citizens could have their votes counted in the fall.