Voting Amendment Proposal Criticized

By Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — Rep. Kirk Haskins questioned Tuesday the merits of altering the Kansas Constitution to “really, really, really, really” be sure that only U.S. citizens are voting in elections.

Haskins, a Topeka Democrat, referenced testimony from the secretary of state’s general counsel about a 2018 federal court case that found claims of voter fraud in Kansas were bogus. That case revealed five instances in a 20-year period in which someone who wasn’t a U.S. citizen possibly had voted in Kansas, out of millions of votes cast.

Haskins urged the chamber to reject House Concurrent Resolution 5004, which would place a constitutional amendment before voters in November 2026 to clarify that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote.

The state constitution already specifies in multiple places that U.S. citizens are eligible to vote, but Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who chairs the House Elections Committee, said the amendment was necessary to ensure that “only” U.S. citizens can vote. Haskins and other Democrats complained that the amendment appears to be an attempt to drive GOP turnout in next year’s election cycle and enrich national organizations that promote baseless claims about voter fraud.

“Folks, we got other issues we need to focus on,” Haskins said. “If you want to devote attention to this issue to drum up turnout for elections, let’s talk about how we can make voting more available by maybe reviewing other things, like ballot boxes, early voting opportunities. Let’s not look at something that is actually going to be unnecessary.”

Proctor said it was important to challenge an “untrue” statement by Haskins, “so that it doesn’t get into the media as fact.” Proctor’s concern was with the assertion that few people who are not U.S. citizens have voted. He pointed out that the secretary of state’s office, according to the general counsel’s testimony, was looking at 118 registered voters whose names correspond with driver’s license records of individuals who are not U.S. citizens.

“There is nothing more fundamental to our way of government and our way of life than voter confidence that the results of the election reflect the will of the voter, that every vote is counted and only valid votes are counted, that their votes aren’t diluted by invalid votes,” Proctor said. “And this is the first step in being able to tell Kansans clearly, precisely and confidently that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.”

In 2018, a federal judge struck down legislation drafted by then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach to require new voters to produce birth certificates in order to register to vote. Kobach, now the attorney general, was held in contempt and ordered to take additional law classes after failing to produce evidence to support his claims of widespread voter fraud. The state eventually agreed to pay $1.9 million in legal fees to the attorneys who challenged the law.

The American Civil Liberties Union argued during that case that there were more effective ways of securing the voter rolls than Kobach’s proposal, which had blocked more than 30,000 legal voters from completing their registration. The state could invest in training for driver’s license workers who sometimes mistakenly register people to vote when they are not U.S. citizens.

Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall, a Paola Republican who was Kobach’s spokeswoman during the 2018 trial, said during Tuesday’s debate that, as the daughter of immigrants, she knows first-hand that it is “too simple to end up on the voter rolls,” even if unintentional.

But the proposed constitutional amendment wouldn’t change the way voter registrations are handled. It would only add language to the state constitution that Democrats say is redundant.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said only three individuals submitted testimony in support of the resolution. One was from Florida-based Opportunity Solutions Project, and two were from Americans for Citizen Voting, which doesn’t identify its headquarters on its website but has lobbied for similar policies across the country.

When Carmichael asked if any of the three proponents was a Kansas resident, Proctor said he didn’t know, “but I am, and so are the 46 cosponsors for this resolution, so I think there’s plenty of support in the state of Kansas for this.”

Carmichael said he disagreed: “I oftentimes find my friends here in the Capitol spend their time talking to themselves rather than listening to their constituents.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what this is really about,” Carmichael added. “It’s by a bunch of out-of-state lobbyists who are making money traveling around the country, stirring up trouble where there’s not a problem, and raising money on the backs of people who contribute to their organizations based upon nothing but rumor, innuendo, suggestions and untruths, and I don’t want any part of supporting that.”

The House gave initial approval to the resolution on a voice vote. A final House vote could be taken as soon as Wednesday. The resolution would require two-thirds support from both the House and Senate to be placed on the ballot.