Kris Kobach, Trump’s election fraud guru, to defend his claims of illegal voting in court

Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state and President Donald Trump's chosen election fraud expert, will defend his claims of widespread election fraud Tuesday in a major voting rights case that could put the president's unsubstantiated assertions on trial, too.

Kobach is facing off in federal court against the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues that the Kansas law requiring voters to prove their citizenship with documents like passports or birth certificates violates the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the law that standardized the federal voter registration form and made it available at Department of Motor Vehicles nationwide.

“Kris Kobach has been the nation’s chief purveyor of false things about voter fraud,” Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said. “Now it’s time to prove it, and I don’t think he’s going to."

 Kobach, who is also a candidate for governor in Kansas, has seen his national profile rise as a source of Trump's unproven claim that millions of illegal ballots were cast in 2016 as well as a leader of the president's short-lived election commission convened to examine the U.S. electoral system for evidence of large-scale voter fraud that abruptly dissolved without issuing any findings.

The Kansas case could have broad implications for voting rights, Ho said, and paint a target on the NVRA's back inviting other states to implement equally tough measures. For Kobach, the stakes are equally high — losing would mean either abandoning the strict voter fraud law he has championed as a model for the nation or beginning a lengthy appeals process that could go as high as the Supreme Court.


Source: nbcnews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How was your weekend running?

Can anyone tell me how I can learn to love cross country? Or is it a gene you are born with? Would greater exposure to it (I live in London - aside from the Surrey League fixtures, opportunities are minimal ...) engender affection? At any rate, it’s certainly not my favourite kind of running, though the relief when it’s over almost makes it worthwhile. No, wait, that’s the cake my teammates bring. Saturday saw us in Richmond Park for the final fixture of the season - a wonderful location for it, and complete with classic freezing cross country weather. I suppose at least I warmed up while running, unlike my poor kids who were dragged along and ended up wearing pretty much every discarded coat. And eating a fair amount of the cake. There’s been lots of debate about distance inequality in XC recently - prompted by the campaign/petition Maud Hodson has written about for me here. And it’s a campaign I am thoroughly behind, which anyone who knows my feelings towards XC finds hilarious. Why,...
Read more

The Alaska shipyard where the 'manliest men' meditate each morning

In the dark hours before sunrise, Vigor Alaska’s shipyard bosses circle up their crews. Dwarfed by vast steel segments of a new ferry, welders, painters and electricians twist their bodies. They roll their heads, shoulders and wrists. They ask about each other’s families. They celebrate pregnancies, raises and second chances. They jump. They lunge. They do push-ups and backbends. Seagulls call. Rain drizzles. Then – in jeans and work boots, sweatshirts and hardhats – they meditate. “I thought it was kind of weird,” said Irineo Munoz, 33, who started working for Vigor Alaska as a machinist in 2015. A former gang member from California, Munoz moved to Alaska after his release from prison. As public debate remains intense over gender roles in society and the workplace, Vigor’s morning routine defies gritty, masculine stereotypes associated with industrial labor. Crews meditate, stretch and socialize – on the clock – for a few moments at the start of each workday. Every Wednesday, around l...
Read more

Does cycling really damage men's sexual organs?

Few doubt that cycling helps you get healthy. One study last year found cyclists are less likely to develop heart disease or cancer, and a 2011 review showed it improves fitness and leads to longer lives. But there’s an area of men’s health that has been the subject of a persistent question: does time spent in the saddle lead to problems in the sack? In recent years, scientists have linked cycling with several male health problems, including erectile dysfunction, which they speculate is caused by the saddle decreasing blood flow to the penis. In one study, Norwegian researchers gathered data from 160 men after they took part in a long-distance bike tour. They found that one in five suffered with numbness to the penis that lasted up to a week after the tour, and 13% developed erectile dysfunction that lasted more than a week in most cases. Another study linked cycling to prostate cancer – or at least, that’s how some corners of the media reported it. But the researchers admitted their s...
Read more