Voter registration applications for more than 12,000 people in Kansas are on hold because of missing documents that could prove U.S. citizenship. A state law that took effect this year requires people who register to vote for the first time in Kansas to prove their citizenship.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he's considering a rule change that could allow some of those voters to cast ballots in certain elections.
A potential voter in Kansas is required to provide citizenship documents when registering. If they don’t turn them in, then they don’t meet the rules for voting in a Kansas election. But the federal government doesn’t share that citizenship document requirement, so the person would likely meet federal rules
The Lawrence Journal World reported this week that Kobach says Kansas could eventually have two classes of voters: people who could only vote in federal elections and people who could vote in both federal and state elections.
Critics are concerned a two-tiered system could create new problems, as it would be more complex. Kobach says the group of voters who could only cast ballots in federal elections would likely be small.
