Editorials: Kansas election officials should welcome voting audit | Emporia Gazette

Secretary of State Kris Kobach and election officials in Sedgwick County should welcome an audit that would compare election results reported by voting machines in that county with the paper backup that records each ballot cast on the machines. If these election officials are concerned with protecting the accuracy and integrity of Kansas elections, they should want to know for sure whether the voting machines they are using are accurately recording the votes being cast. That’s why it’s hard to understand why the election officials are forcing a Wichita State University mathematician to go to court to obtain the paper records that would allow her to audit the performance of the voting machines. Beth Clarkson, the WSU mathematician, said her statistical analysis revealed patterns in the November 2014 voting that raised suspicions that “some voting systems were being sabotaged.” It’s possible that there are other explanations for the patterns, she said, which is why she wanted to compare the results produced by the voting machines with the paper records.

Kansas: Voter ID laws focus of Kansas civil rights committee | Associated Press

The Kansas division of a federal civil rights commission will investigate whether voter identification laws have affected turnout around the state. The Kansas Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted Tuesday to hold hearings to determine if turnout in some communities has been suppressed, KCUR-TV reported (http://bit.ly/1SMwZAi ). The committee also agreed to ask Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who strongly advocated for the laws, to testify at its hearings, which are expected to take place early next year. “My office would be happy to appear before the Kansas advisory committee and point out the success of the Kansas photo ID law,” Kobach told The Associated Press late Wednesday afternoon.

Editorials: Kobach gains power to intimidate voters | Michael A. Smith/The Hutchison News

I am a white male, but most Americans are not. For many, even everyday encounters with public authority, law enforcement for example, can be terrifying. This makes me especially alarmed about a new law giving Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach the power to prosecute voter fraud, passed by the Kansas Legislature last month in the frenzy of last-minute legislation. The law is strange. First, because prosecution power is typically vested in federal authorities, state attorneys general, and local county prosecutors and district attorneys, not secretaries of state. Second, even Kobach himself cannot find voter fraud in Kansas. For example, his office publicly named a Wichita voter who they claimed was deceased. Wichita Eagle reporters found the man raking leaves in his yard. … Kobach’s new law may have chilling effects on voting.

Kansas: Wichita State mathematician says Kansas voting machines need audit | Associated Press

A mathematician at Wichita State University who wanted to check the accuracy of some Kansas voting machines after finding odd patterns in election returns said she is finding out how difficult it can be to get government officials to turn over public documents. Beth Clarkson, a certified quality engineer with a doctorate in statistics, said her calculations from the November election showed enough patterns to suspect that “some voting systems were being sabotaged.” Sedgwick County election officials refused to allow the computer records to be part of a recount and told her that to get paper recordings of votes, she would have to go to court and fight for them, said Clarkson, who is also the chief statistician for WSU’s National Institute for Aviation Research.

Kansas: Statistician battles government to determine whether vote count is flawed | Lawrence Journal World

Wichita State University mathematician Beth Clarkson has seen enough odd patterns in some election returns that she thinks it’s time to check the accuracy of some Kansas voting machines. She’s finding out government officials don’t make such testing easy to do. When Clarkson initially decided to check the accuracy of voting machines, she thought the easy part would be getting the paper records produced by the machines, and the hard part would be conducting the audit. It’s turned out to be just the opposite. “I really did not expect to have a lot of problems getting these (records),” Clarkson said. But Sedgwick County election officials “refused to allow the computer records to be part of a recount. They said that wasn’t allowed.” Instead, Clarkson was told that in order to get the paper recordings of votes, she would have to go to court and fight for them. Earlier this year, Clarkson filed a lawsuit against the Sedgwick County Election Office and Kris Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state, asking for access to the paper records that voting machines record each time someone votes. The record does not identify the voter.

Kansas: Kansans may report suspected cases of voter fraud on secretary of state’s website | The Wichita Eagle

The Kansas Secretary of State’s Office has set up a website and phone hotline for Kansans to report suspected cases of voter fraud. Secretary of State Kris Kobach successfully pushed for the power to prosecute voter fraud this past legislative session. … Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat who has sparred with Kobach on the issue, said the secretary of state’s office already had the power to take complaints about voter fraud before the law change this year.

Kansas: Ruling won’t change Kansas voter registration system | The Legal Record

Kansas residents can register to vote using a federal form without having to provide proof of citizenship under the June 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, but they won’t be allowed to vote in state and local elections, the state’s top election official said. The high court’s justices rejected an appeal from Republican officials in Kansas and Arizona who have sought force federal elections officials to change a national voter registration form so that it requires new voters in their states to submit a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting U.S. citizenship. Last year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the two states can not demand that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission help them enforce their laws. Most new Kansas voters use a state voter registration form requiring such documents. The federal form requires only that voters sign a sworn statement saying they are citizens.

Kansas: Kobach Looks To Prosecute ‘Double Voting’ Starting Wednesday | KMUW

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will officially have the power to prosecute voter fraud starting Wednesday. The power was granted to him through a bill signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback in early June. Kobach has been a staunch advocate of strict voting laws, including Kansas’ controversial proof-of-citizenship requirements on state voter registration forms.

Editorials: Kobach lost but voting hurdles remain | The Wichita Eagle

When the U.S. Supreme Court opted Monday not to decide whether the federal voter-registration form must account for Kansas and Arizona laws requiring proof of citizenship, it was another major legal defeat for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Too bad the move, though welcome, won’t do much for voter participation in Kansas. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled last November that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission need not require would-be Kansas and Arizona voters using the federal registration form to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, as per the two states’ laws. The federal form only asks applicants to swear they are citizens. Ruling that the states “have not provided substantial evidence of noncitizens registering to vote using the federal form,” the appeals court had overturned a decision by Wichita-based U.S. District Court Judge Eric Melgren siding with Kansas and Arizona.

Kansas: Dodge City USD ballot leaves ‘0’ off bond cost | Hutchinson News

Numerical figures are the same in English and Spanish – except on the ballots prepared for the Dodge City USD 443 bond issue. In the English version of the ballot question, the proposed bond amount is not to exceed “$85,600,000.” In the Spanish translation on the ballot, the number – “$85,600,00” – has the correct commas but is missing the last zero. Ballots for the mail election began arriving in voters’ mailboxes last week. They are due back in the Ford County Clerk’s office June 25, and some ballots already have been returned. “The typo in and of itself does not invalidate an election,” said Bryan Caskey, state director of elections in Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office.

Kansas: Brace yourself for Kobach | The Wichita Eagle

Secretary of State Kris Kobach finally got the prosecutorial powers he wanted. Brace yourself, Kansas voters, as he’s unlikely to put them in a drawer. Kobach is such a zealot on the nonissue of voter fraud that he didn’t even wait to start investigations until Gov. Sam Brownback had signed the bill, which occurred Monday. Kobach said three attorneys in his office will work on potential cases at least part time, and he likely will handle some as well. He claimed he’s homing in on more than 100 possible cases of double voting from 2014, using phrases Monday such as “all-time high” and “slam dunk.” The more accurate wording about Kobach’s expanded power came from Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, who called it “jousting at windmills.”

Editorials: A Voter-Fraud Witch Hunt in Kansas | Ari Berman/The Nation

In fall 2010, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach held a press conference alleging that dead people were voting in the state. He singled out Alfred K. Brewer as a possible zombie voter. There was only one problem: Brewer was very much alive. The Wichita Eagle found the 78-year-old working in his front yard. “I don’t think this is heaven, not when I’m raking leaves,” Brewer said. Since his election in 2010, Kobach has been the leading crusader behind the myth of voter fraud, making headline-grabbing claims about the prevalence of such fraud with little evidence to back it up. Now he’s about to become a lot more powerful. On Monday, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill giving Kobach’s office the power to prosecute voter-fraud cases if county prosecutors decline to do so and upgrading such charges from misdemeanors to felonies. Voters could be charged with a felony for mistakenly showing up at the wrong polling place. No other secretary of state in the country has such sweeping prosecutorial power, says Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.

Kansas: Now that Kris Kobach can hunt for voter fraud in Kansas, will he actually find it? | Kansas City Star

Usually, people say it’s a photo that’s worth a thousand words. But in Kansas politics, everything is upside down these days. So it was the accompanying flawed caption, not the photo of Gov. Sam Brownback signing a new law Monday, that had people musing. “… after the signing of Senate Bill 34, a bill that grants persecuting power to the Secretary of State for cases of voter fraud.” Persecuting. That’ll probably be accurate.

Kansas: Brownback signs election bill, gives Kobach prosecutorial authority | The Wichita Eagle The Wichita Eagle

Gov. Sam Brownback has officially given Secretary of State Kris Kobach the power to prosecute. The governor signed SB 34 at a ceremony Monday, granting the secretary of state the authority to prosecute voter fraud. Kobach, who crafted and pushed for the legislation, said his office has already begun preliminary work on investigations and said he had identified more than 100 possible cases of double voting. He said his office has started requesting voters’ signatures from counties as evidence.

Editorials: Kris Kobach’s pursuit of ‘double voters’ in Kansas is hollow | Steve Rose/Kansas City Star

While all eyes were focused last week on the Kansas budget, without fanfare a new law was passed and sent to the governor to sign that turns Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office into the voter fraud police, as well as the state’s attorney general. Lawmakers and the governor took away the power from county district attorneys. This is important because, alas, Kobach got what he wanted and can now go after “criminals” who vote twice and throw the book at them. There’s just one little hitch. To pull off his grandstand play, Kobach will only be able to rustle up a tiny number of offenders. Kobach claims he will go after 100 or so double-voting offenders from the 2014 election. The truth is, it is too soon to know much about the 2014 race. It takes a while for another state to match its voting database with that of Kansas to see whether someone did, indeed, vote in one state and then another. For example, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe does not yet have that 2014 election information and doesn’t expect it for quite some time.

Kansas: Brownback May Empower Kris Kobach To Prosecute ‘Voter Fraud’ Cases Himself | TPM

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has five days before he must decide whether to sign a bill expanding the power of Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) to prosecute voter fraud cases. If Brownback does sign the legislation, which has already passed both chambers of the state legislature, Kobach would be given the power to prosecute voter fraud cases even when, according to critics, local prosecutors had opted against moving forward with those cases. Kobach is a prominent figure in conservative “voter fraud” circles, loudly declaring that voter fraud is rampant and pushing new laws that have the effect of restricting access to voting, especially among voters who tend to favor Democrats. Voting experts, on the other hand, point to studies that show voter fraud is relatively rare with negligible impact on election outcomes.

Editorials: Editorial: Voter hammer | Lawrence Journal World

A bill that takes away local control of voter fraud prosecutions and allows people who violate state voting laws out of confusion or a simple misunderstanding to be convicted of a felony and sentenced to jail is now on its way to Gov. Sam Brownback’s desk. The measure, which already had been approved by the Senate, passed the House on a narrow 67-55 vote on Thursday. A key provision of the bill would give the Kansas secretary of state authority to prosecute voter fraud cases, something that has been advocated by Secretary of State Kris Kobach for several years.

Kansas: Bill to give Kobach prosecutorial power receives early House approval in close vote | Topeka Capital-Journal

Secretary of State Kris Kobach would have new powers to prosecute election crimes under legislation given initial approval Wednesday in a razor-thin House vote. The House gave an early OK to Senate Bill 34 in a 63-57 vote. If the House now approves the bill in a final vote it will go to Gov. Sam Brownback. But the outcome of the final vote — which requires 63 votes — seems far from certain. Multiple Democrats voted in favor of the bill in a failed effort to use a procedural maneuver to later kill the bill. At least two Republicans who would likely vote in favor of the bill were absent. Kobach has sought the power to prosecute for some time. He fought his re-election campaign against Democrat Jean Schodorf portraying himself as tough on voter fraud. The bill also would upgrade penalties for several voting offenses to felonies from misdemeanors.

Kansas: Lawmakers advance bill to boost secretary of state’s power | Associated Press

Secretary of State Kris Kobach would gain the power to prosecute election fraud under a bill that the Kansas House narrowly gave first-round approval Wednesday. The measure would stiffen penalties for an array of election crimes and add the secretary of state and attorney general to a list of officials allowed to prosecute the offenses. The House expected to take a final vote Thursday. Kobach has pushed to gain the authority since taking office in January 2011 and if approved by the House, the bill would go to Gov. Sam Brownback for his possible signature.

Kansas: House panel advances prosecutor power for Kobach | Topeka Capital-Journal

A Kansas House committee pushed forward legislation Monday to give Secretary of State Kris Kobach the power to prosecute election fraud. The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-8 to send Senate Bill 34 to the floor. The vote marked a revival of the legislation, which was first approved by the the committee in March. Because of parliamentary rules, the panel had to re-approve the bill. Rep. John Rubin, R-Shawnee, said he had initially had some reservations about the legislation. But the secretary of state has unique knowledge about election fraud that makes allowing that office to prosecute appropriate, he said.

Kansas: Kobach PAC now embroiled in state naming-law issue; ‘stupid’ PAC gets letter from ethics panel | The Wichita Eagle

A Wichita group’s effort to form a committee to “fix stupid” in Kansas politics has snagged the state’s top election official, Kris Kobach, who may be running a political action committee that is illegally named. Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, will be getting a letter from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission questioning the legality of using the name “Prairie Fire PAC” for his political fundraising committee, said Carol Williams, executive director of the commission. State law requires PACs that are affiliated with a larger corporation or organization to note that in their name. Unaffiliated PACs must use names indicating who’s involved or the cause the PAC is advocating for, Williams said. Kobach said Wednesday his interpretation is the law doesn’t apply to a PAC like his.

Kansas: Sealing of votes means time is past for researcher seeking paper records, Kobach says of election lawsuit | The Wichita Eagle

Secretary of State Kris Kobach said a researcher wanting to check the accuracy of voting machines from the November election missed her opportunity to do so before the votes were sealed. For the first time, Kobach commented Friday on a lawsuit, in which he is a defendant, involving election results in Sedgwick County. Kobach was added as a defendant Wednesday to a lawsuit brought in the Sedgwick County District Court by Beth Clarkson, the chief statistician for the National Institute for Aviation Research, who is seeking to study the accuracy of reported vote tallies in Sedgwick County. She emphasized that this activity is independent from her duties at the institute.

Kansas: Wichita State mathematician sues Kris Kobach, Sedgwick County elections commisioner seeking court order to audit voting machines | Lincoln Courier-Journal

A Wichita State University mathematician sued the top Kansas election official Wednesday seeking paper tapes from electronic voting machines, an effort to explain statistical anomalies favoring Republicans in counts coming from large precincts across the country. Beth Clarkson, chief statistician for the university’s National Institute for Aviation Research, filed the open records lawsuit in Sedgwick County District Court as part of her personal quest to find the answer to an unexplained pattern that transcends elections and states. The lawsuit was amended Wednesday to name Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Sedgwick County Elections Commissioner Tabitha Lehman.

Kansas: Kris Kobach asks U.S. Supreme Court to restore his proof-of-citizenship law | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision and restore a state law he wrote requiring proof-of-citizenship documents to register to vote. Kobach wants the Supreme Court to undo the November decision by the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeal, in a case pitting Kansas and Arizona against the federal Election Assistance Commission and a bevy of voting rights groups. The appeals court ruled that the states could not require document citizenship proof from prospective voters who register using a federal form that doesn’t demand it – and that the commission doesn’t have to alter the federal registration form to comply with the states’ demands.

Kansas: Senate passes bill restricting candidates from leaving ballot | The Wichita Eagle

Candidates wouldn’t have to die — but they would have to suffer medical hardship or live outside Kansas — in order to be removed from the ballot after winning a primary race under a bill approved Wednesday by the Kansas Senate. House Bill 2104 was drafted by Secretary of State Kris Kobach in response to Democrat Chad Taylor’s withdrawal from the race for U.S. Senate last fall. It originally would have allowed candidates off the ballot only if they died. Democrats pointed out this would mean a candidate who fell into a coma would be forced to remain on the ballot.

Kansas: Senate advances bill giving Kobach power to prosecute election crimes | Lawrence Journal World

The Kansas Senate on Tuesday advanced a bill that would give the secretary of state authority to prosecute election crimes. Senate Bill 34 would also amend current election law by establishing new crimes of attempting to vote more than once in an election, and it increases the severity of some other election crimes. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican, has asked for prosecutorial powers in the past, but previous Legislatures have not been willing to go along. Currently, election crimes can be prosecuted by the county or district attorney in the county where the alleged crime took place or by the Kansas attorney general.

Kansas: Senate edges closer to handing prosecutorial power to Kobach on voter fraud | Topeka Capital-Journal

A majority in the Senate deflected opposition from Democrats on Tuesday to legislation granting authority to prosecute alleged crimes of voter fraud with the office of the state’s Republican secretary of state. The bill given first-round approval on a voice vote in the GOP-dominated chamber has been long-sought by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who expressed discontent with work by county prosecutors in addressing election misconduct. Senate Bill 34 would vest power to prosecute election crimes in district or county attorneys across the state, the Kansas Attorney General Office as well as the Secretary of State’s Office. In addition, the measure headed to a final vote Wednesday would elevate the state’s penalty for a series of voting offenses to felonies rather than misdemeanors.

Kansas: Prosecutors question Kobach claims of voter fraud in Kansas | Associated Press

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the architect behind some of the nation’s strictest voter ID requirements, is asking lawmakers to give him the power to press voter fraud charges because he says prosecutors do not pursue cases he refers. The state’s top federal prosecutor, however, says Kobach has not sent any cases his way. Some county prosecutors say cases that have been referred did not justify prosecution. The conservative Republican publicly chastised Kansas-based U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom late last year, telling Topeka television station WIBW he had referred voter fraud cases to Grissom and that Grissom didn’t “know what he’s talking about” when he said voter fraud doesn’t exist in Kansas. But in a Nov. 6 letter sent from Grissom to Kobach and obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request, the prosecutor responded that his office received no such referrals from Kobach, and chided the secretary of state for his statements. “Going forward, if your office determines there has been an act of voter fraud please forward the matter to me for investigation and prosecution,” Grissom wrote. “Until then, so we can avoid misstatements of facts for the future, for the record, we have received no voter fraud cases from your office in over four and a half years. And, I can assure you, I do know what I’m talking about.” Grissom told the AP last week that Kobach never replied to his letter.

Editorials: Kansas Secretary Of State Says His Voter Suppression Crusade Is Meant To ‘Protect Immigrants’ | ThinkProgress

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) is headed to Capitol Hill this afternoon to tell lawmakers he fears the President’s action protecting millions of young immigrants and their parents from deportation will lead to a spike in voter fraud. “It’s a very real problem of aliens registering to vote, sometimes unwittingly,” Kobach told ThinkProgress earlier this week. “They go to get a drivers’ license, and the person at the DMV says, ‘Hey, would you like to register to be an organ donor and register to vote?’ So some are given the misimpression by the clerk that they are entitled to register to vote. We have plenty of cases like this. And if you increase the population of people who are not US citizens getting drivers licenses, it necessarily follows that these errors that keep happening would increase as well.” Citing what he calls President’s Obama’s “recent controversial en-mass deferred action,” Kobach is pushing a policy he has advocated since long before the President’s executive order: requiring proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote, even though Kansas’ and Arizona’s attempts to do this have been ruled illegal. Continuing his argument that undocumented people are “unwittingly” committing felony-level voter fraud, Kobach told ThinkProgress that his policy is really about keeping immigrants safe.

Kansas: Kobach seeking power to prosecute suspected voter fraud himself | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the architect behind some of the nation’s strictest voter ID requirements, is asking lawmakers to give him the power to press voter fraud charges because he says prosecutors do not pursue cases he refers. The state’s top federal prosecutor, however, says Kobach has not sent any cases his way. Some county prosecutors say cases that have been referred did not justify prosecution. Kobach publicly chastised Kansas-based U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom late last year, telling Topeka television station WIBW he had referred voter fraud cases to Grissom and that Grissom didn’t “know what he’s talking about” when he said voter fraud doesn’t exist in Kansas. But in a Nov. 6 letter sent from Grissom to Kobach and obtained by the Associated Press through an open-records request, the prosecutor responded that his office received no such referrals from Kobach and chided the secretary of state for his statements.