Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach requested voter data from all 50 states as part of his work on a presidential commission on voter fraud. In response, the ACLU of Kansas is considering its legal options, including a possible lawsuit.
Kobach asked election officials to turn over their voter roll data to the commission, including names, addresses, party affiliations, and the last four digits of their social security numbers. He says it will help shore up “vulnerabilities” in the nation’s voting system.
Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, says what Kobach is doing runs afoul of most states’ laws governing privacy of voter data.
“Certainly in Kansas we have a law that says that voter registration records will not be made available for public inspection unless some of this information is removed or redacted," Kubic says.
The ACLU of Kansas is already suing Kobach over the state’s voter registration laws. The AP reports Kobach on Friday apologized to the court for what he called a "misunderstanding" that led to a $1,000 fine against him for misleading the court.
Kyle Palmer is a reporter and morning newscaster at KCUR.