Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Fish v. Kobach" in English language version.
On May 17, 2016, the Court issued an extensive Memorandum and Order granting in part Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the Kansas DPOC law until this case could be decided on the merits. It was effective on June 14, 2016. The Tenth Circuit affirmed that ruling on October 19, 2016.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found Kobach, a conservative Republican running for Kansas governor, in contempt of court.Robinson ordered Kobach to pay court costs, including more than $26,000 in attorney fees for the American Civil Liberties Union, which sought the contempt ruling.
Kobach cited a highly disputed study from Richman based on 2014 voter data and asserted that self-reported noncitizens vote at a rate of 11.3 percent. "If we apply that number to the current presidential election … you'd have 3.2 million aliens voted in the presidential election, and that far exceeds the current popular vote margin between President-elect Trump and Secretary Clinton", Kobach said in 2016.
April 18, 2011. Today Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) Act into law. ... Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach [said,] "No other state in the union does as much to secure the integrity of the voting process." Kobach unveiled HB 2067 (the SAFE Act) ... . While Republicans voted almost unanimously for the SAFE Act, 75% of Senate Democrats and 70% of House Democrats also voted for the SAFE Act. The core provisions of the SAFE Act are these: (1) newly-registered Kansas voters must prove U.S. citizenship when registering to vote; (2) voters must show photographic identification when casting a vote in person; and (3) voters must have their signature verified and provide a full Kansas driver's license or non-driver ID number when voting by mail.
Effective Feb. 24, 2012 (except K.A.R. 7-23-14 effective Jan. 1, 2013); ... K.A.R. 7-23-14. Assessing documents submitted as evidence of United States citizenship.
Robinson said several times during the hearing that her ruling made it clear the voters covered by her injunction were not to be treated differently from other registered voters. She also said Kobach had assured her in telephone hearings that he had instructed his office to order county election officials to mail the postcards to all voters covered by her order. ... "Why would I order something in writing that you've told me is being taken care of?" Robinson asked Kobach. "(As an officer of the court) you are under an ethical obligation to tell me the truth. If you tell me you are going to do that, I trust that." ... "Isn't one of the advantages of having the manual online is that they can be modified quickly?" said Robinson, who later added it was a "ridiculous system" to take so long to change a few sentences in the manual.
Dale Ho, director for the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union said the case is about what national standards the U.S. will have for voter registration. "It is also a case about this false narrative of noncitizens participating in elections — which Kobach has said for years has been happening in large amounts — and now we are going to see his evidence ... [Kobach's] evidence is going to be put on the stand in open court for a federal judge to rule on, and I think the public will finally get to see how little evidence he actually has."
[W]e AFFIRM the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction and REMAND the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
