More than 30,000 people in Kansas have tried to register to vote, but their applications remain incomplete. In most cases, these would-be voters have failed to provide proof of citizenship required by state law. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has proposed that all incomplete voter registrations be canceled after 90 days. Opponents and supporters of that plan voiced their concerns in a public hearing Wednesday.
Doug Bonney, with the ACLU of Kansas, says Kobach is overstepping his bounds with the proposal. Bonney says Kobach only has the authority to implement the state’s voter citizenship law and says he can’t create additional requirements.
“There’s nothing in Kansas law that says voters who want to register only have 90 days to complete their registration applications, and so he’s making this up out of whole cloth,” says Bonney.
Shawnee County Election Commissioner Andrew Howell supports the plan because he says it could motivate people to finish the application. He says it would also prevent counties from continually trying to contact people with incomplete applications.
“We spend a great deal of time sending out letters to voters making sure they understand the very specific and explicit details. Frankly, we do get phone calls from people saying we really don’t wish to be contacted by you, we never intended to sign up as a voter in the first place,” says Howell.
Opponents of the proposal, including the NAACP and League of Women Voters, say it can take more than 90 days to get the documents needed to register to vote. They argue the 90-day rule would be a roadblock to voting for some Kansans.
Shawnee County resident Jack Sossoman was the only other supporter of the rule speaking at the hearing. He says the proposal is part of a larger system in Kansas to ensure only citizens are voting.
Kobach will now consider the public comments before deciding whether to issue the rule, modify it or withdraw the proposal.
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Currently, more than 30,000 Kansas voter registrations are on hold because they lack citizenship documents required by state law. Secretary of State Kris Kobach has proposed canceling incomplete voter registrations after 90 days. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, a public hearing Wednesday gave opponents a chance to voice their concerns.
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A number of people lined up to criticize the plan, saying it’s a roadblock being put in front of Kansans who want to vote. Sonja Willms says she believes there’s a motive to try to stop some minority groups from voting, because they probably don’t share Kobach’s political party.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘conspiracy,’ but it feels like a conspiracy theory to keep people from voting that probably are Democratic,” says Willms.
But Craig McCullah, with the secretary of state’s office, says this is about saving money for county governments. It would prevent counties from indefinitely trying to contact would-be voters with incomplete registrations.
“We don’t want to block anyone from voting, that’s not the attempt here. The goal is to manage elections in the most efficient way possible,” says McCullah.
The ACLU argues Kobach doesn’t have the authority to put this rule in place, because a 90-day limit isn’t specified in state law.