Three Democratic Congressmen—Robert Brady, James E. Clyburn and Elijah Cummings—are seeking documents from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to determine whether its chairman, Brian Newby, was within the rules when he unilaterally altered voter registration forms for three states. The forms were changed so that Kansas, Alabama, and Georgia can require proof of U.S. citizenship of people who are registering to vote.
Newby was appointed by Kris Kobach—the notorious vote suppressor who serves as Kansas Secretary of State—to a Johnson County elections post. Newby subsequently used his ties to Kobach to help him get the EAC chairman’s job.
That federal agency is charged with making voting more accessible. It was set up to avoid repeating some of the problems associated with the disputed 2000 election. At the EAC, Newby decided on his own that the residents of the three states would no longer be allowed to register anyone to vote using a federal form without showing proof of citizenship. A Kansas City Star columnist labeled Newby’s efforts “slimy.”
The three Congressmen want the four-member EAC to release all documents regarding requests the three states made to add the proof of citizenship requirement to its voter registration forms, an evaluation of the effect the modification of the form had on citizens, and any documents that authorize Newby to make these and other changes unilaterally.
In their letter to EAC Commissioner Thomas Hicks, the trio wrote that what Newby has done "could impair, and already may have impaired, the legitimate right to vote of many Americans, and we are seeking a better understanding of how the changes to the federal form were approved."
Meanwhile, Kobach told the Associated Press that the Congressmen “appear to be ignorant about federal law and what federal regulations require.” Given the courts’ pummeling of Kobach over his proof of citizenship crusade, you would think he might be a bit more circumspect about claiming ignorance on the part of others.
As I reported Wednesday, the proof of citizenship requirement in Kansas has left the registrations of thousands of people in limbo. They are disproportionately poor and Democratic. No reason to think it’s any different in Georgia and Alabama.