Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach—the same birther guy
who thought it was a good idea to get President Obama's birth certificate before considering a challenge to putting him on the ballot in 2012—is trying to help incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts win reelection by
refusing to allow the former Democratic candidate to remove his name from the ballot:
Chad Taylor filed paperwork Wednesday to pull his name off Kansas ballots for U.S. Senate. On Thursday, Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach said the Democrat’s name must remain.
Kansas law means “we now have no choice” but to put Taylor’s name on the ballot, he told reporters at an afternoon news conference. “The law is the law.”
Kobach cited a Kansas statute which requires a withdrawing candidate to declare he or she is “incapable” of serving if elected. Taylor’s letter, he said, did not contain that language. Rather, Taylor simply referenced the state law in his letter.
Taylor, however,
says he spoke with the head of the state's elections division who told him that he'd done everything he needed to do in order to withdraw. Taylor's withdrawal boosts the independent campaign of Greg Orman, who has a very good chance of unseating Roberts in November's election.
Assuming Taylor is telling the truth—and given Kobach's history as a bigoted right-wing lunatic I'd trust him over Kobach any day of the week—then Kobach is going to have a hard time explaining what appears to be a nakedly partisan move.