A Shawnee County judge cleared the way Friday for Kansas to use a dual voting system to help enforce its proof-of-citizenship rule for new voters, suggesting that doing otherwise could taint the state’s August primary election.
Shawnee County District Court Judge Franklin Theis rules to allow Kansas to move forward with a dual voting system to help enforce a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters. The secretary of state's office has directed counties to handle ballots differently, based on whether the voter has used a state or national registration form, the latter of which does not require proof of citizenship.
Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, outlined last month in instructing county officials on handling ballots from voters who registered using a national form that does not require providing a birth certificate, passport or some other documentation of their U.S. citizenship. Kobach advised counties to set aside the ballots and count only their votes in congressional races not state races.
The national form has voters sign a statement that they are U.S. citizens, without requiring papers. Kansas and Arizona sued the federal government to force it to add specific instructions for their states on their proof-of-citizenship requirements. That case is before a federal appeals court, leaving the treatment of voters registering with the national form in flux.
Most Kansas voters register with the state’s form, which requires them to provide citizenship papers.
The registrations of more than 19,500 prospective Kansas voters are on hold because they haven’t yet documented their citizenship.
The judge directed Kobach to instruct election officials to notify the small group of voters that if they didn’t provide proof of citizenship, only the votes in congressional races would be counted.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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