Monday, December 30, 2024

Kansas Once Required Voters to Prove Citizenship

There's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas.

More

"Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn't work out so well" electionlawblog.org?p=147993

[image or embed]

-- Rick Hasen (@rickhasen.bsky.social) December 30, 2024 at 10:49 AM

Comments

More from the article...

... That's because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory.

The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018.

Kansas provides a cautionary tale about how pursuing an election concern that in fact is extremely rare risks disenfranchising a far greater number of people who are legally entitled to vote. The state's top elections official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, championed the idea as a legislator and now says states and the federal government shouldn't touch it.

"Kansas did that 10 years ago," said Schwab, a Republican. "It didn't work out so well." ...

[emphasis mine]

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-12-29 09:10 PM

Billy Bragg - Ideology (1986)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt...

genius.com

...
When one voice rules the nation
Just because they're on top of the pile
Doesn't mean their vision is the clearest
The voices of the people
Are falling on deaf ears

Our politicians all become careerists
They must declare their interests
But not their company cars
Is there more to a seat in parliament
Then sitting on your arse
And the best of all this bad bunch
Are shouting to be heard
Above the sound of ideologies clashing

Outside the patient millions
Who put them into power
Expect a little more back for their taxes
Like school books, beds in hospitals
And peace in our bloody time

All they get is old men grinding axes
Who've built their private fortunes
On the things they can rely
...


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-12-30 02:59 AM

the "new" supreme ct could give a ----.

#3 | Posted by ichiro at 2024-12-30 07:33 PM

We all have to prove citizenship when we register to vote; there is no valid reason to require us to prove it every time we vote. Republicans just want excuses to bar legitimate voters from exercisibg their rights. Don't now about y'all but I don't normally carry my 73 years old birth certificate around with me.

#4 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-31 07:37 AM

Whoa ...

It is December 31 here.

Why is there a thunderstorm outside?

So odd.

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-12-31 10:57 PM

@#4 ... We all have to prove citizenship when we register to vote; there is no valid reason to require us to prove it every time we vote. ...

That is the way it should work.

Prove your citizenship when you register, not every time you vote.

And I will state once again, each time I vote here in Connecticut I have to show a valid ID.

I have no problem with that because Connecticut does not use that ID requirement to target voters who do not vote for Republicans, as other states seem to do.


Maybe that is why the Connecticut license plates say, "Constitution State."


#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-12-31 11:03 PM

Drudge Retort Headlines

Johnson re-elected as House Speaker (36 comments)

Bird Flu Causing Egg Prices to Soar, Shortages (30 comments)

Biden to Award Citizens Medal to Jan. 6 Investigation Leaders (22 comments)

CyberTruck Bomber Was a 'Big' Trump Supporter (19 comments)

Trump to Be Sentenced on January 10 (14 comments)

Why does Trump want to dismantle the Department of Education? (14 comments)

Giuliani Fights to Save His Yankees World Series Rings (12 comments)

OpEd: 25 Years on from Y2K, Good It Happened Way Back Then (12 comments)

How Clarence Thomas Got Away with It (11 comments)

Newborns are Being Left in Dumpsters in Texas (10 comments)