An unknown number of U.S. citizens who were legally qualified to vote in Kansas apparently were denied that right in November.
That should alarm lawmakers who have been asked to further empower Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state.
Kobach wants more power to decide who gets to vote and in what elections. He wants the authority to create a two-tiered system that would deny some voters the right to cast ballots in state races.
His previous efforts were rejected by the courts, so he’s asking legislators for a law that would give him a better shot at winning court challenges.
Kobach’s priorities are clear. He is focused on an anti-immigrant agenda that aims to elect Republicans and keep them in power.
After Kobach claimed that hordes of non-citizen immigrants were voting illegally in Kansas, lawmakers granted him the power to prosecute voter fraud cases. After 18 months, he has six misdemeanor convictions to show for his efforts. All six involved U.S.-born citizens who registered and voted in two states in the same election.
While he is riled immensely by fictional illegal immigrants casting ballots, Kobach can’t generate much concern about citizens denied the right to vote.
The Associated Press documented cases in which the names of Kansans who had legally registered to vote failed to show up on the lists used by poll workers.
No one knows how many Kansans were affected. It appears from the reporting done by AP’s Roxana Hegeman that it was at least in the hundreds and possibly in the thousands.
Asked about the issue, Kobach’s office said there was a technical glitch. State officials did next to nothing to determine how many citizens were affected; nor did they effectively remedy the situation.
So it’s unknown how many people didn’t cast ballots, or how many voted using provisional ballots, which were then trashed by officials.
Meanwhile, Kobach has been helping Donald Trump perpetuate tales that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton in November. There’s no credible basis for that claim, concocted apparently to further stoke Trump’s ego and the public’s anti-immigrant anger.
What should anger us is the failure of the state to ensure the rights of its citizens.
It’s unknown whether the problem with the disappearing registrations would have made a difference in close races around the state.
It is worth noting that the problems occurred at a time when the state seemed to drag its feet to comply with court orders regarding registration and the two-tiered voting system.
Kobach wants everyone who registers to provide state-approved proof of citizenship. The same state officials who publicly doubted President Barak Obama’s citizenship in 2012 would decide the legitimacy of all our documents. Voters who failed to produce documentation deemed legitimate would be barred from voting in some races.
Before zealotry became the norm, Kansas’ secretary of state focused on ensuring the integrity of elections and optimizing participation.
Participation now is down.
Kobach predicted that 72 percent of the state’s registered voters would vote in the Nov. 8 election. According to information on the secretary of state’s website, turnout was 67.4 percent, up from 66.8 percent in 2012.
Turnout in 2004 was 71.6 percent, and in 2008, it was 72.3 percent.
Numerous factors affect turnout, so it’s not possible to say definitively why turnout has dropped. But it’s certain that Kobach has not improved participation.
That’s despite advance voting programs that give people more options about when and where they vote. Growing numbers of Kansas voters use advance voting. In 2004, 245,827 Kansans cast ballots early. Last year, the number was 521,617 – 42 percent of all voters.
And if hundreds or thousands of Kansas citizens were denied the right to vote, we also have less integrity in our elections.
Trashing the ballots of qualified voters or denying them their right to vote endangers our democracy far more than the rare case of voter fraud.
We have reached a point at which Kobach’s agenda is no longer compatible with the duties of his office.
Rather than continue to expand Kobach’s powers, legislators should demand that he either carry out the duties of his office or resign.
A Plains View 