When Kris Kobach ran for Congress in 2004 against incumbent Dennis Moore, a woman walked into his campaign headquarters. The voter, Kobach says, was a registered Democrat in Wyandotte County but told the Republican candidate that she intended to vote for him. The funny thing was, she'd already received an absentee ballot in the mail -- without requesting it.
That didn't sit well with Kobach, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "I was worried people were fraudulently pulling Democrats' names off the list to drag those participation numbers up," Kobach says.
Fast forward to the next election cycle. Kobach lost the 2004 race to Moore by a fraud-proof margin, but his concerns about election shenanigans continued when ACORN, an activist organization, was charged with registering fake voters in Missouri.
"The rise of ACORN nationally accelerates the problem, aggravates the problem even more," Kobach says of voter fraud. "Kansas is a state that does not have as many protections in place as we need to have in place. And people are very rapidly waking up to the issue in Kansas."
So yesterday Kobach made it official: He's running for secretary of state in 2010.
Kicking off a six-city swing through the Sunflower State, the former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party unveiled a platform that takes aim at two problems -- two problems the current secretary of state says are just short of imaginary.
Kobach's run is based on two major contentions. First, Kansas has a problem with "election crimes, from fraudulent registrations to vote-by-mail fraud." Second, thousands of illegal immigrants, dead citizens and entirely imaginary individuals are clogging the voting rolls.
Kobach points out that data from early 2008 shows the voter registration cards for nearly 120,000 Kansans were bounded back to the post office. "Some are deceased, some voters moved and then some are going to be intentionally created fraudulent voters," Kobach contends.
Not to mention, Kobach suggests many illegal immigrants could be improperly influencing elections. In the press release announcing his candidacy, Kobach goes so far as to say: "The illegal registration of alien voters has become pervasive."
Aside from registration concerns, Kobach says combating election fraud should be a higher priority. Fraud complaints, he says, are under-reported, and even when there's solid documentation, there's rarely any legal repercussion. That's because, once a fraud complaint is made to the secretary of state and found to be credible, the case is sent back to the county prosecutor where the alleged activity occurred. Imagine you're a county prosecutor with a murder, a handful of rapes and a bunch of assaults to contend with, Kobach hypothesizes. "More often than not they don't prosecute," he says of voter fraud cases.
So what would Kobach do if he was Kansas' top election cop? Push for a voter ID law, requiring picture identification at the time a citizen casts his or her ballot. Put some more teeth into prosecution of fraud perpetrators. "I'd like to see the secretary of state devote its resources to investigating voter fraud cases; have an attorney in the secretary of state's office prepare the cases for prosecution," he says.
But Stephanie Meyer, a spokesman for current (Republican) Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, suggests Kobach's proposed reforms might be a big waste of time. Meyer says Kansas voters don't have much reason to worry. "We think voter fraud is very minimal," she says. "In the last two years, there have been a couple of reports -- less than five -- that have been questioned, but it's not widespread at all."
In fact, according to the secretary's election division, there have been 20 claims of voter fraud -- in the past 10 years.
Meyer says concerns about undocumented immigrants registering illegally is stretching reality even further. "There's no evidence to come anywhere near the term 'pervasive,'" Meyer says, referring to Kobach's characterization.
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I'm a fan of Kris Kobach. He will make changes for the better including out of control voter fraud happening, and YES, in KANSAS too.
Wake up!!!!
Excuse me? Are you kidding? Kansas votes overwhelmingly Republican??? Do you KNOW what party the Governor and Rep. Moore are???
Like Realist, I really do not think Kansas has much of a problem with voter fraud, yet. But I appreciate the idea that Kobach wants to do something about it before Kansas gets as bad as other places. Kansas has recently became one of the many havens in this country for illegal immigrants seem to want to migrate to.
Realist says, "Somehow I imagine Kobach would only find "fraud" in the small percentage of elected Democrats and none at all on the GOP side. Just a hunch."
You need to remember that several employees and volunteers for ACORN have been brought up on charges that relate to voter fraud. ACORN has a tendency of only wanting to register voters who would vote for Democrats.
What's to say the next election cycle, ACORN doesn't decide to set up shop, big time, in Kansas like they have done in Illinois, Nevada, Washington, etc.
So, uh, given that Kansas overwhelmingly votes Republican - or at least, APPEARS to vote Republican - does all this "fraud" mean Kansans are really Democrats at heart?
Somehow I imagine Kobach would only find "fraud" in the small percentage of elected Democrats and none at all on the GOP side. Just a hunch.
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