Over the last few days I've been writing about an issue regarding voting rights within the state of Kansas. At issue: voter guides issued to Spanish speaking residents contained bad information — wrong dates, wrong forms of ID allowed.
www.dailykos.com/...
Today, in response to an interview I provided to NPRs “Here and Now” the Secretary of State office put up an unbelievable defense: the error wasn't maliciousness, it was just dereliction of duty.
hereandnow.wbur.org/…
The law requiring voters to register at least 21 days before an election was changed from 15 days in 2011. The proofreading mistake on the Spanish Guide to Voting in Kansas was made when the office updated all of our forms. For example, if you go to our website and click on the “Voter Rights and Responsibilities poster”, you’ll see an example of one of the many forms that were updated correctly. At the bottom of the form you’ll see that it was revised on 11/16/11. Most importantly, the actual Voter Registration Application was updated appropriately when the law changed.
The discrepancy on the Guide to Voting in Kansas was a result of simple human error. We corrected the errors as soon as we were made aware of it and believe the mistake has had zero effect on voters in Kansas.
The guides, which were issued at the VoteKS website had apparently been wrong for quite some time, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Despite the change of cover to reflect the 2016 election cycle, the document had not been revised since 2011. That information seems odd, as the documents saved within prior stories reflected 2014 readiness material, but they highlight a real problem in the Secretary of State office.
Should Kansans accept this new line of argument, voters will have been subject to bad information for five years, multiple election cycles: 2012, 2013 spring, 2014 general, 2015 spring — not county any local. In other words: the admission that the guides have been wrong for quite some time means it is unknowable how large of an impact these errant documents have had on voters.
Worse, while the English guide was clearly updated, Kobach’s office is now arguing that effectively they didn't bother to check the content of the Spanish language guide for five years, something that seems like a serious dereliction of duty when your prime job is voter rights and access to the polls. It also highlights inequitable treatment in which one group received preferential services over another.
The decision to point out to NPR this was a long standing error that went back five years doesn't make the problem go away, in my view it makes the problem of systemic neglect of an entire class of people far more offensive.
The argument being presented is dangerous: we’ve committed serious errors of duty for years, and for that reason, we should get a pass.
Kansas voters should not accept this argument.
NOTE: you can see the Spanish language guide, which was at minimum updated to show it was FOR 2016, here at this location: https://www.dropbox.com/s/76sgp9vkqfarl5w/A_Guide_to_Voting_in_Kansas.pdf?dl=0
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