The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and League of Women Voters of Kansas put the secretary of state on notice of a potential lawsuit alleging a new election-related state statute conflicts with federal election law.
A notice letter sent by the ACLU, on behalf of the LWV, to Secretary of State Scott Schwab asserted provisions of House Bill 2437 were potentially not compliant with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The bill was designed to rapidly remove ineligible voters from registration rolls and restrict the use of voter registration websites.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, but the Republican-led Kansas Legislature voted in March to override her veto.
Changes encompassed by the law, which was implemented July 1, were endorsed by Schwab. The letter to Schwab regarding the intersection of state and federal law was dated July 1.
“Kansas is required to comply with the NVRA’s voter registration rules,” said Laura O’Reilly, an attorney with ACLU of Kansas. “HB 2437 is an attempt by politicians to weaponize the election administration system against the very voters they serve.”
She said the overhaul of state law raised the risk of improperly deleting valid voter registrations. Naturalized citizens would be at risk of having their registration canceled through reliance on federal and state databases, the letter said.
The letter argued restraints on online voter registration applications and new open records exemptions could compromise the ability of Kansans to legally exercise their right to vote.
Schwab, who is a GOP candidate for governor, applauded the SAVE Kansas Act four months ago as a demonstration of the state’s “commitment to maintaining accurate voter rolls while protecting the rights of every eligible Kansas voter for decades to come.” On Thursday, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed receiving the letter from ACLU and LWV, but otherwise declined comment.
Kelly’s veto message said the Legislature’s restrictions on online voter registration websites could suppress civic engagement by making it more difficult to vote. She said disclosing personal information, including name, date of birth, residential address and the last four digits of a Social Security number for public assistance recipients with the Secretary of State’s Office in Kansas “may be prohibited under federal law.”
The Legislature responded to Kelly’s veto with override votes of 28-11 in the Senate and 84-39 in the House. In Kansas, legislative overrides require two-thirds majorities in both chambers.
Under the new state law, the Secretary of State’s Office and county election officials would work collaboratively to identify people unlawfully registered to vote in Kansas.
Secretaries of state in Kansas would be deputized to twice a year cross-reference driver’s license records and voter rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database.
The secretary of state would be authorized to use a database administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, documents held by the U.S. Social Security Administration and state or federal information on people who changed their residential address. Information gathered by the secretary of state would be forwarded to election officials in all 105 counties for the purpose of removing unqualified people from the rolls.
County election officers must send notices within 45 days to registered voters who had changed their address to determine if they remained eligible to vote in Kansas. Subjects of that correspondence would have 45 days to respond. Failure to answer would trigger removal of a person on the registration roll.
The revised state law says materials gathered by the state of Kansas, except information forwarded to county election officials, would be shielded from public disclosure under the Kansas Open Records Act.
A person would be removed from a voter registration list under the controversial state law if confirmed dead through an obituary notice or with a notarized form signed by a spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild.
In terms of a felony conviction, the secretary of state would have five business days to inform county election officials of the need to proceed with removal of that person from the state’s voter registration list.
The Secretary of State’s Office would be responsible for submitting annual reports to House and Senate committees on the number of personal records checked, the number of voters flagged as potential noncitizens, the number of registered voters who died and the number of people removed from the state’s voter registration system.
The new Kansas law also required people attempting to register to vote to use a website with a .gov domain or a website endorsed by the secretary of state. It would be a misdemeanor crime to operate a noncompliant voter registration website. A person convicted of the crime could receive a sentence of one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.
“For more than a decade, Kansans have fought back against voter suppression in disguise,” said Marlene Merrill, president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas. “The SAVE Kansas Act is yet another example of unnecessary burdens placed on our right to vote. The League of Women Voters of Kansas will fight for a democracy that complies with the law and ensures all eligible Kansans are able to seamlessly register to vote and cast their ballot.”
This story was originally published by the Kansas Reflector.
