We talked about how Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has set up a special election system in Kansas where some people may to vote in all elections, some people get to vote only in federal elections and some people get “suspended” and can’t vote at all.
Kobach is not a fringe figure on the Right:
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration bill, ensured on Tuesday that the Republican Party platform will also have his fingerprint. During a meeting of the GOP platform committee in Tampa, Fla., Kobach called for the party to officially back increased border fencing and the E-Verify employment verification system, and to go after two immigrant-friendly initiatives: in-state tuition for some undocumented young people and so-called sanctuary cities. Those measures were in the 2008 Republican platform but had been dropped from the draft this year, Politico reported.
“These positions are consistent with the Romney campaign,” Kobach said. “As you all remember, one of the primary reasons that Governor Romney rose past Governor Perry when Mr. Perry was achieving first place in the polls was because of his opposition to in-state tuition for illegal aliens.”
The ACLU has filed a challenge in state court:
TOPEKA, Kan. – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit challenging Kansas’ two-tiered voter registration system. The petition charges that eligible voters are being divided into separate and unequal classes, in violation of the Kansas Constitution’s equal protection guarantees.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that states could not impose a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for those who register to vote using the federal form. Voters declare under penalty of perjury that they are citizens when they register using the federal form.
Kansas has implemented a dual registration system to prevent people who use the federal form from voting in state and local elections unless they show additional documentary proof of citizenship. Voter registration for thousands of Kansans is already being held in “suspense” – essentially limbo – because of the new documentation requirements.
The ACLU petition charges that state officials have, without statutory authority, “unilaterally established an unprecedented and unlawful voter registration system that divides registered voters in Kansas into two separate and unequal classes, with vastly different rights and privileges…based on nothing more than the method of registration that a voter uses.”
“It makes absolutely no sense that someone would be qualified to vote for president, but not for governor,” said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “This case is about people who have done everything they are supposed to do – complied with all legal requirements for voter registration – but are arbitrarily being denied the right to vote in state and local elections simply because of the form they used.”
The lawsuit, Belenky v. Kobach, was filed in the Third Judicial District in Topeka on behalf of Equality Kansas and individual voters. The petition charges the dual system not only deprives Kansans of voting in state and local elections, but also denies them election-related rights such as signing petitions.
Aimai
So how low do we think scalia et al will sink if this gets to them?
Geeno
As low as it takes.
Elizabelle
Kobach is the guiding spirit behind the gently-named “Crosscheck” program that resulted in having over 39,000 Virginia voters thrown off the voting rolls after the registration deadline had passed for the recent gubernatorial election.
People do end up registered to vote in more than one state. We’re a mobile population.
That does not mean that people are double-voting.
Kay
@Aimai:
I don’t know, but I like the idea of taking it to state court because it just points up how radical this stuff is, even within some hard-Right theoretical “states rights” frame.
They’ve sort of conned us into this idea that “states!” can do any egregious thing they want but that is not actually true, even under state law :)
piratedan
fuckers
Elizabelle
From August 2013: And this does not relate, necessarily, to the two-tiered voter reg system, but it seems another solution to a non-existent (or extremely minimal) problem:
Notice anything interesting about that list of states?
Also, Kobach and others never ever divulge how many of these double voters they find.
Tokyokie
I was wondering how this system could possibly pass equal protection muster the instant I learned about it. But then, I’m guessing several Supreme Court justices believe that equal protection applies to candidates (if they’re the right sort), not voters.
patrick II
@Elizabelle:
That strategy almost won the Virginia Attorney General race for them. The last I saw –before the recount — the democrat had one by just about 160 votes.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
There’s a similar scheme going on here in AZ (courtesy of Kobach) but surprisingly there is little in the local press about it. The ACLU needs to file suit here too. But according to Ken Bennett, AZ Sec of State, they’re just following the law (http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20131011elections-ballot-ken-bennett-into-mind.html). Can’t wait until 2014 when a whole bunch of people aren’t allowed to vote in State and Local elections. It will be such a wonderful surprise to them.
Tone in DC
How many more times do these wingers want to re-fight the Civil War?
Don’t answer that.
Captain C
@Tone in DC: As many times as it takes.
Greg
I have registered to vote, and have voted in, CA UT IL MA PA FL KY TX and now CA again. I suppose this cross-check system would flag me as a fraudulent voter.
schrodinger's cat
Isn’t Kobach the guy who came up with Arizona’s papers plz, law?
ETA: He is not really on the fringe, because he worked on immigration issues for the Romney Campaign.
Mnemosyne
@Ms. D. Ranged in AZ:
I’m guessing that in AZ it would mostly be snowbirds caught up in the system since they were registered in their home states. Ah, irony.