The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging Kansas’ dual voter registration system, charging it violates the Kansas Constitution and state law. The dual system prevents qualified Kansas voters from voting in state and local elections due solely to their method of registration. In mid-July, Secretary of State Kris Kobach received administrative approval of a temporary regulation aimed at formalizing this system, which a court has already declared violates state law.
“Secretary Kobach continues to seek ways to confuse and obstruct voters in Kansas. His flagrant disregard of the court’s findings means that Kansans still face unnecessary barriers to voting. We’re asking the court to immediately block the temporary regulation and to ultimately end this dual system once and for all,” said Sophia Lakin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis reiterated June 14 that Kobach cannot stop Kansans from voting in state and local elections simply because they registered to vote using federal forms that don’t require the same onerous documentation that Kobach prefers.
The dual system would allow some Kansans to vote for federal offices, like U.S. senator and U.S. representative, but not for their state representative, state senator, or other state and local offices.
Thousands of voters are impacted, among them 90-year-old Army Air Corps veteran Marvin Brown, who registered to vote by submitting a complete federal form. He was later told that while he could vote in federal elections, he was prohibited from voting in state and local elections unless he showed additional documentary proof of citizenship.
“My family has been in Kansas since about 1850. It’s wrong that a bunch of so-called leaders would tell me that I have to show a bunch of extra documents before I can vote. As a military veteran who fought to protect our democracy, it’s particularly offensive,” he said.
At least 17,000 Kansans who registered to vote through the Division of Vehicles and were recently added to the voting rolls via a federal court order stemming from another ACLU lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in the Third Judicial District in Topeka.
In 2016, a Court ordered a permanent halt to Kansas’ dual voter registration system, meaning thousands of Kansans will have their votes counted for federal, state, and local elections in next week’s election and beyond.