This is a continuation of prior posts on this issue.
A bill, KS SB34, passed both House and Senate, will now give Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) the authority to prosecute cases of voter fraud. If signed, the legislation would grant him even more power to make voting a political issue and to intimidate and suppress voters from participating in elections.
The approval of the legislation, would allow Kobach and future secretaries of state to bypass the attorney general to prosecute election crimes, a responsibility not typically given to the person delegated with running elections. The bill would also upgrade a number of election crimes to felonies from misdemeanors.
Kobach has attempted to purge the state’s voter rolls and pushed for the enactment of a voter ID law.
He has also worked tirelessly to get other states to join his error-riddled Interstate Voter Crosscheck Program, a system which purports to flag voters who are registered in multiple states, but has often incorrectly flagged legitimate voters.
Kobach also enacted a law in 2013 requiring people to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. In the first few months, roughly 12,000 Kansas voter registration forms were not approved because the individuals had not yet proven their citizenship. And after a year, Kobach admitted that more than one-third of the 20,000 voters whose registrations were suspended were actually eligible voters.
It will now head to Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) desk.
Currently, county attorneys and the state attorney general have the authority to go after election crimes. Expanding that power to Kobach would mean three separate entities could prosecute voter fraud.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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