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.
Any proposal for same-registration and voting faces significant hurdles in Kansas, especially from Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
… Bryan Caskey, Kobach’s election director, said same-day registration would be “inconsistent with some of the other security efforts he (Kobach) has put in place to prevent voter fraud.”
Chief among those is a system where Kansas requires prospective voters to prove citizenship with documents beyond a driver’s license, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Full Article: Idea could make voting easier, but faces Kobach opposition | The Wichita Eagle.