Here’s another twist in the tale of the more than 18,000 Kansans whose voter registrations have been put on hold because of lack of proof of U.S. citizenship. Election officials reported Monday they are using a recent release of documents to whittle down the number of registrations in what is called “suspense.” The Kansas Department of Revenue recently sent to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office approximately 6,100 Division of Motor Vehicle records that contained citizenship documents, according to a memo from the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office. “These records should reduce the number of ‘suspense’ records due to lack of proof of citizenship,” the memo stated. The Secretary of State’s Office did not have information on how many incomplete voter registrations these documents cleared up, but Douglas County received its batch of 438 records Monday afternoon. It processed 50 of the records and was able to finalize the registrations of 16 people, according to Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew. “We are working through the remaining records,” Shew said.
A new law took effect Jan. 1 that requires people who are registering to vote to show proof of U.S. citizenship such as a birth certificate. Supporters of the law, including Secretary of State Kris Kobach, minimized the hurdle this would produce, but 18,054 voter registrations are incomplete because of the lack of proof of citizenship.
Some have alleged that people who have applied for driver’s licenses and voter registration have fully complied with the legal requirement for both but have been thwarted by a faulty computer system.
Voting rights groups have threatened to sue Kobach, saying he has defied a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Arizona case by continuing to demand documentary proof of citizenship from people using the federal voter registration form, which doesn’t require a document.
Kobach has discussed the possibility of creating a two-tiered voting system in which people who registered to vote using the federal form could vote only for president and Congress, while people who showed proof of citizenship could vote in all elections.
Full Article: Documents to be used to reduce voter registrations in ‘suspense’ / LJWorld.com.