Kobach Lacks Authority to Create Two-Tier Registration System
The latest in the saga of litigation regarding Kansas’ proof of citizenship requirement for registering to vote was issued today by a Kansas state court in Brown v. Kobach. The court found that Secretary of State Kris Kobach lacked the authority to establish a two-tier voter registration system, in response to an earlier court ruling, and therefore Kansas cannot require proof of citizenship for voters who register using the federal form:
The Defendant simply lacks the authority to create a two-tiered system of voter registration. Lacking this authority, the temporary regulation cannot be enforced. Note that, even if the United States Supreme Court reverses the decisions in either or both of Fish and Newby, the result would still be that the Plaintiffs have “actually succeeded” on the merits of their claim, for, lacking these federal court rulings, the plain language of K.S.A. 25-2309(l) would stand as a barrier to the Plaintiffs’ attempts at registering to vote without providing [proof of citizenship].