voter registration

Updated Wednesday, 3:35 p.m.

A federal court says the state of Kansas went too far by requiring people registering to vote at the DMV to prove their citizenship. The document requirement has put thousands of voter registrations on hold.

An advocacy group is sending a letter to the U.S. Elections Assistance Inspector General to ask her to look into actions by the EAC's new executive director.

More than 116,000 people have signed an online petition urging the inspector general to investigate what it calls voter suppression at a federal government agency entrusted with making voting more accessible.

The progressive advocacy group CREDO Action said it planned to deliver petition signatures Wednesday to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's Inspector General Patricia Layfield.

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling the voting system in Kansas "chaos," citing the state's proof of citizenship requirement

A federal judge may temporarily block Kansas from enforcing its proof-of-citizenship requirement for people who register to vote at state motor vehicle offices.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson took the case under advisement Thursday after hearing four hours of arguments in Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's proof-of-citizenship rule is in play again, shortly after the federal registration form was changed.

The federal Justice Department has refused to support a U.S. elections official who sided with Kansas, Alabama and Georgia in a fight over whether voters should have to show proof of citizenship when registering using a national form.

The Sedgwick County Elections Office has received instructions from the Kansas Secretary of State’s office to adhere to a new voting rule put in place last week.

The decision was made by the new executive director of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission.

According to the Secretary of State's office, the decision means Kansas residents can no longer register to vote using a federal form without providing proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

In most other states, no such documentation is needed to register; voters need only sign a sworn statement.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will pursue three more cases of voter fraud for alleged double voting. Kobach discussed the cases during a meeting at the Statehouse yesterday.

The three new cases come from Johnson, Ellis and Sedgwick Counties. In all three, the people are accused of voting more than once in an election.

Democratic state Rep. Tom Sawyer told Kobach that it doesn’t seem like voter fraud to him if someone voted twice when they thought they could and didn’t have criminal intent. Kobach says it’s important to prosecute the crimes.

A Kansas judge has ruled that Secretary of State Kris Kobach has no legal right to bar people who register to vote using a federal form from voting in local and state elections.

Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis ruled Friday in favor of two Kansas voters who challenged how Kobach is enforcing a state proof-of-citizenship requirement for registering to vote.