Kansas wants to resurrect v****g law requiring proof-of-citizenship; case being watched nationwide
March 19, 2019 | Frieda Powers | Print Article

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The constitutionality of a blocked Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship in order to be able to v**e is under scrutiny as the state looks to bring it back.

Arguments were set to be heard in a federal appeals court on Monday in a case that draws attention again to the efforts of Republicans to enact v**er ID laws in an attempt to stem in-person v***r f***d, according to an Associated Press report on Monday.
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The Kansas v***r r**********n law required documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers to be presented before people would be allowed to even r******r to v**e, taking another step further than 35 other states which already have some form of v**er identification, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Associated Press reported:

In a case with national implications for v****g rights, Kansas faces an uphill battle to resurrect the law once championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach , who led President Donald Trump’s now-defunct v***r f***d commission.

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked Kobach in 2016 from fully enforcing the law, calling it “a mass denial of a fundamental constitutional right.” The issue is back before the appellate court after U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson struck it down last year and made permanent the earlier injunction.



Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s V****g Rights Project, called out the statute which was aimed at confronting a “nonexistent epidemic of noncitizen v****g.”
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“Kansas was the tip of the spear of an effort to make it harder for people to register under the guise of protecting e******ns from a nonexistent epidemic of noncitizen v****g. Those efforts haven’t stopped as this case illustrates, and I think this case will be closely watched,” Ho said.

More than 30,732 people who could not submit proof of citizenship were unable to r******r to v**e between 2013 and 2016 when the law was in effect before being blocked by Robinson. The judge found that the law “disproportionately impacted duly qualified registration applicants, while only nominally preventing noncitizen v***r r**********n.”

“Kansas argued in court filings that it has a compelling interest in preventing v***r f***d. It contended its proof-of-citizenship requirement is not a significant burden and protects the integrity of e******ns and the accuracy of v**er rolls,” The AP report said.

Kobach, a conservative Republican who backed Trump’s assertion of v***r f***d, was the architect behind the strict Kansas v**er identification laws. The Democratic governor of the state, Laura Kelly, is opposed to the legislation but once supported it when she was a state senator.

“The Legislature is free to repeal the statute if it is no longer favored, but as long as the law requiring documentary proof of citizenship to r******r to v**e remains on the books, we think it, like other duly enacted state laws, deserves a full and vigorous legal defense,” Kansas’ Republican attorney general, Derek Schmidt, said.

Schmidt, who is defending the legislation as it is being appealed, noted that it had passed in the Legislature by large bipartisan majorities.
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While critics are arguing that cases of v***r f***d are actually rare and that Republicans are seeking to suppress v**er turnout from those in demographics which usually support Democrats, Kansas has seen many convictions for v***r f***d since 2015.

But attempts to enforce v****g requirements have typically been denounced by the left and the latest move by the state of Kansas to resurrect its proof-of-citizenship requirements had critics crying oppression.
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I fully support Kansas, in what they want!!! 100% and the Dems want to give I*****l i*******ts the Right to V**e in the US E******ns!!! This is Sinful!!! and wrong.