Kansas Secretary of Kris Kobach lost a legal battle Wednesday to block one of his most persistent critics from contacting voters who cast uncounted provisional ballots in her close legislative race, and some county officials suggested his stance represented an attempt to change office policy. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled against the Republican secretary of state in a federal lawsuit Kobach filed last week to prevent Democratic state Rep. Ann Mah of Topeka from obtaining a list of provisional voters. When his litigation failed to prevent the release of 131 names, Kobach sought to prevent Mah and her GOP challenger, Ken Corbet of Topeka, from contacting the voters.
Kobach argued that a federal election law shields voters’ identities from disclosure, but Marten disagreed, saying the law’s goal is only to prevent disclosure of how someone voted. Meanwhile, Kobach faced additional questions outside of court because his office didn’t block the release of similar information about provisional voters in another close Kansas House race earlier this year. Asked Wednesday why that situation didn’t result in litigation, Kobach said he “didn’t have personal knowledge” about it.
Full Article: Kobach loses round in battle over Kan. voter names – SFGate.