Kris Kobach, Secretary of State has long come under fire for his planned 2-tier voting program. This program, says Kobach would prevent bogus voter registrations and help for a clean vote.
What it really does is create massive confusion as to what you areas of a ballot can handle your vote.
Kobach's plan allows for the State of Kansas to tell voters who register through Motor-Voter and federal voting programs that they can only vote in federal races, and they cannot vote for local city & state races, including governor.
Today, the ACLU moved forward on their lawsuit against this strategy.
http://www.therepublic.com/...
TOPEKA, Kansas — A federal judge agreed Tuesday with the American Civil Liberties Union that a state court should decide a lawsuit challenging Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's enforcement of the state's voter-citizenship rule.
The lawsuit attacks a policy Kobach said he was considering to restrict Kansans who use a national voter-registration form to casting ballots only in presidential, U.S. Senate and congressional races. The ACLU argued Kobach has no authority under Kansas law to impose the policy and it would violate voters' right to equal legal protection under the state constitution.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren in Wichita returned the case to Shawnee County District Court, where it initially was filed in November on behalf of two voters and the gay-rights group Equality Kansas.
Kobach had asked Melgren to hear the case because the federal judge handled a separate lawsuit filed by Kansas and Arizona against the federal government. Melgren last month ordered federal officials to help the two states enforce their laws requiring new voters to submit a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting U.S. citizenship.
Kobach said the two cases were inevitably linked. But Melgren ruled Tuesday that the ACLU's lawsuit raised legal issues only involving Kansas law and the state constitution, making state court the proper venue.
Kansas still retains our new proof of citizenship requirement, which may be a serious impediment for those who naturally immigrated into this country, but also to the elderly or those who have not registered to vote in sometime.
Kobach's current system has a minimum recognized cost to voters of $15 through most states for the reproduction of a valid birth certificate which can be verified and no maximum in regards to time and effort that may be spent tracking down acceptable documents for those that have undergone name changes (marriages, divorces) or naturalization paperwork.
In effect, argues ACLU and others, Kobach is setting up a multi-track voting system that is designed to discourage people from voting. By adding an initial cost and time into the ballot, combined with the uncertainty of what races you are legally entitled to vote in, Kobach's system minimizes the number of people interested in registering to vote for the first time.
The lawsuit, which stems from original intent of this bill:
http://www.kansascity.com/...
Secretary of State Kris Kobach, working with a law passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback, has told county election authorities to keep a record of new registrants.
His plan calls for prohibiting new registrants who don’t provide proof of citizenship from voting in state elections.
Voting in federal elections would be permitted.
The ACLU — and two plaintiffs — says such a dual system is unconstitutional. They’ve asked a judge in Topeka to stop the system.
From the ACLU’s release:
“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.
UPDATE:
“Another day, another ACLU lawsuit,” Kobach said this afternoon.
Kobach's motion to stay with Melgren has reasoning.. Melgren previously ruled in favor of Kobach's draft legislation which served as the template for both Arizona and Kansas. This lead to the Federal Government and 12 other voting rights advocates to file appeals which are still pending.
In the end, the more difficult and confusing we make it for people to vote, the fewer individuals will vote. That is not a healthy Democracy.
As we move through the spring session, we need to take time, now, to motivate fellow citizens in all states to register to vote, get familiar with their rights and make sure now - long before it is too late - that their voice will be heard.
I'm disheartened that Kansas views spending hundreds of thousands on a reckless lawsuit to disenfranchise individuals as a worthwhile cause, but I am glad we have a method to remove them from office.
It's called a ballot box.