With lawsuits stacking up and appeals pending, it’s difficult to know exactly who can and who cannot vote in Kansas. Even before Kansas’ SAFE Act, a new voter registration law, went into effect in January 2013, lawsuits were being filed. The part of the SAFE Act most under contention is the requirement to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. Acceptable forms of proof of citizenship include a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers.
Several lawsuits are still pending or under appeal. Last month, in yet another ruling, Federal Judge Julie Robinson ruled voters who registered to vote at Kansas Department of Motor Vehicle Offices must be allowed to vote. According to Robinson, to deny them the right to vote would be a violation of the federal Motor Voter Law that was designed to encourage voter participation.
Even after that ruling, people who registered at Kansas Motor Vehicle Offices without submitting proof of insurance would only be allowed to vote for Federal Office – President, U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress. That’s because of a two-tiered voting system, ruled illegal in one lawsuit, but still being implemented by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The system is called two-tiered because it establishes two distinctly different classes of registered voters in Kansas: Those who can vote in all races, submitted their proof of citizenship when they registered, and those who can only vote in Federal elections. This individuals did not submit proof of citizenship and registered under certain circumstances that have been deemed by the courts not to apply to the Kansas proof of citizenship requirements.
Beside people who registered at Kansas Motor Vehicle Office, the two-tiered limited voting scenario applies to people who registered in Kansas using the Federal voter registration form versus the Kansas voter registration form. The Federal form only requires an individual to “attest” to their proof of citizenship. By signing the form, you’re swearing you’re a U.S. Citizen. The Kansas form requires submission of proof of citizenship.
Kobach filed suit against the federal government to get them to change the Federal form to accommodate Kansas’ new proof of citizenship requirement. He lost that case but the court left it up to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to make a decision whether or not they would chose to change the form. In one of the slickest moves yet, Kobach helped get a friend of his and former Kansas election commissioner Brian Newby appointed as the new executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Shortly after being appointed, and in a nod to his good friend Kobach, Newby unilaterally moved to change the Federal form.
Up pops another lawsuit, with voting rights advocates suing to block Newby’s action. The court hasn’t ruled in this case yet. A ruling in favor of the voting rights groups, combined with the earlier ruling making Kobach’s two-tiered system illegal could combine to allow people who registered using the Federal form eligible to vote in all elections.
But, never fear, there will probably be another appeal to that decision. So, it’s kind of a wait and see game. Who knows where we’ll be come November. The sad thing is, the voting rights of an estimated 50,000 people – who registered to vote but didn’t provide proof of citizenship — hangs in the balance.