Kobach talks voter ID at forum

By ANDREW NASH
COURTESY OF THE CRAWFORD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Posted May 24, 2012 @ 02:19 PM
Morning Sun

GIRARD —

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is glad that Kansas is SAFE.

By January 2013, all the provisions of the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections Act will be in effect.

“On April 18 last year, Gov. Sam Brownback signed the SAFE Act,” Kobach said Thursday. “That was a big moment for the state of Kansas nationally. Kansas enacted the toughest law against voter fraud in the country.”

Kobach kicked off an 11-city voter education tour of the state with a meeting in Pittsburg Thursday morning. While there were many questions from the audience, Kobach’s main goal was to inform attendees what the law is and what the law isn’t.

“It’s not really all that complicated,” Kobach said. “We are trying to make sure everybody is aware before the August 7 primary of the laws and how they’ve changed. We’re doing a big media campaign on TV and radio to explain that. My thinking a year and a half ago when we began is that we would make it easy to vote in Kansas, but hard to cheat. We are still making it easy to comply with the law and easy to vote.”

Kobach highlighted three major portions of the law during the meeting, which was open to the public.

First, the law requires all Kansas voters to show photo identification when they vote. This portion went into effect Jan. 1, 2012, and Kobach said it will help to eliminate cases of voter fraud.

“It will allow us to know that close calls [in elections] are called correctly,” he said. “It’s why we have instant replay. If it’s going to be really close, you want to make sure it’s accurate. No matter how close the call is, we’ve got instant replay and technology to say we know the election went to this person or that person.”

The second portion of the law implements new security for advanced voting, which includes mail-in ballots or absentee ballots. This will include checking signatures on the ballot against existing signatures on state licenses or other items. Voters can also write the number of their driver’s license on the form or include a photocopy with their advance ballot.

Finally, the law will require newly registering voters to show proof of citizenship as of Jan. 1, 2013.

Kobach talks voter ID at forum - Pittsburg, KS - Morning Sun