A group opposed to the state law that requires Kansans to show a government-issued photo ID to vote will have volunteers at some polls Tuesday to see whether any voters are being deprived of their right to vote. “This law was pushed forward without thinking things through,” said Louis Goseland, coordinator for the KanVote campaign. On Tuesday, voters across the state will participate in Republican and Democratic party primaries. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach pushed the photo ID requirement through the Legislature, saying it was needed to protect against voter fraud. Critics say that incidents of voter fraud are almost nonexistent in Kansas and that the ID requirement will disenfranchise some elderly and minority voters who don’t have a photo ID. There have been several local elections in Kansas since the photo requirement took effect at the start of the year. But this is the first statewide test.
Registered voters in Kansas who don’t have a photo ID can get a free one from the Division of Motor Vehicles if they have proof of identity and residence. But a recent report cited problems. For instance, in downtown Wichita there is only one office to serve 160,700 eligible voters, which is eight times the customer base of the average office statewide.
In addition, 7,373 voting-age Kansans have no vehicle and live more than 10 miles from offices where they can get state-issued IDs, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. So far, the state has issued 32 free nondriver IDs, Kobach said. Douglas County has become the first county in the state to issue its own IDs for the purpose of voting.
Full Article: Voter ID questions continue / LJWorld.com.