KRIS KOBACH: SUPPRESSING KANSAS VOTERS SINCE 2011
July 19, 2013 – 3:38pm

12,000. That’s the number of Kansans whose voter registration is in limbo because of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

These Kansans have been caught up by Kris Kobach’s almost certainly unconstitutional proof-of-citizenship law that requires people who register to vote in the state for the first time to provide a birth certificate, passport or other document.

While some Kansans have failed to meet these onerous and potentially expensive requirements, many have complied only to see their paperwork disappear into a system Kobach assured state legislators would seamlessly register Kansans.

Any decent human would at the least be concerned that eligible voters who have done nothing wrong are still being denied access to the ballot box.

But not Kris Kobach.

Kobach contends that 12,000 suppressed voters is not a major problem. In fact, it’s just a drop in the bucket when compared to the 1.8 million Kansans who are of voting age.

It’s odd then that Kris Kobach can’t apply this same numerical logic to alleged voter fraud.

In the 20 years between 1988 and 2008, only 75 Kansas cases of voter fraud were reported and zero convictions resulted from those reports. Doesn’t matter to Kris Kobach – voter fraud is a serious problem worth spending millions of dollars to combat.

Former Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State also agree voter fraud is just not a problem in Kansas. Doesn’t matter to Kris Kobach because he believes so strongly that voter fraud is real.

It’s telling, then, to note what does matter to Kris Kobach. He cares deeply about non-existent voter fraud, fighting to enforce some of the strictest voting laws in the country. He cares so much that he is willing to make up stories about dead voters, lie about immigrants voting and mislead Kansans about voter fraud.

But Kansans who are stripped of their rights to vote – that’s no big deal.

Maybe that’s because voter ID laws and proof of citizenship laws like the ones pushed by Kris Kobach disproportionately impact Democratic voters. Just two days ago Pennsylvania’s GOP Chair admitted as much, saying that voter ID laws helped suppress Obama voters.

In the end, Kris Kobach doesn’t really care about voter fraud. No, it appears that what Kris Kobach really cares about is stopping people who disagree with him from voting

– See more at: http://www.ksdp.org/blog/kris-kobach-suppressing-kansas-voters-2011#sthash.JS4GHfL5.dpuf