Looking at voter registration laws

Monday, January 23, 2012

PoliticalFiber.com

In April 2011, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that requires all voters to show photo identification at the polls. The state will issue a free photo ID card through the Department of Motor Vehicles to anyone who is eligible to vote. These changes have already gone into effect.

But, beginning Jan. 1, 2013, this bill requires any person registering to vote in Kansas for the first time to submit a document, such as a birth certificate or passport, that proves their citizenship. However, Secretary of State Kris Kobach has pushed to have this enacted sooner — in time for increased voter registration prior to the November elections.

Kobach will likely attempt to pass further changes to voting laws by proposing a bill requiring a birth certificate for everyone registering or re-registering to vote in Kansas, not just first-time voters.

These changes create several hoops for college students to jump through, especially if they live out of town or out of state. In addition to navigating new voter laws in Kansas and possibly their home states as well, students would have to make a trip home or arrange for their birth certificate to be mailed to them in time to register to vote. For a group notorious for its poor showing at the polls, any obstacle could prove to be a big one.

— Erin Heger for PoliticalFiber.com

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