Kansas residents can register to vote using a federal form without having to provide proof of citizenship under Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling, but they won’t be allowed to vote in state and local elections, the state’s top election official said.
The high court’s justices rejected an appeal from Republican officials in Kansas and Arizona who have sought force federal elections officials to change a national voter registration form so that it requires new voters in their states to submit a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting U.S. citizenship. Last year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the two states cannot demand that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission help them enforce their laws.
Most new Kansas voters use a state voter registration form requiring such documents. The federal form requires only that voters sign a sworn statement saying they are citizens.
“States allow people to use the federal form to register for state elections as a courtesy, but are not required to do so,” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said. “So I would encourage people to continue to provide proof of citizenship. That is what the people of Kansas overwhelmingly wanted, that is what I ran on and that is what the Kansas Legislature overwhelmingly voted for. That remains the law in Kansas.”
Kobach has championed such laws as a way to prevent noncitizens from voting, particularly those living in the U.S. illegally. Critics say incidents of noncitizens registering to vote are extremely rare, and that such Republican-backed laws hurt voter registration efforts and disenfranchise voters from certain groups that tend to vote Democrat, including minorities and college students.
Okay fine, they can register with a Federal form and get their voter registration.
In Indiana you have to show a valid ID to sign in, the reason I know this is my mother works the polls and when I walked in to vote she very loudly and publicly dressed me down for not renewing my drivers license in time. She then threw me out of line and refused to let me vote.
My own mother who lives next door to me.
Registering to vote is one thing, but does this law also affect proof of address residence and a valid current ID also?