Voter registration procedures that require proof of citizenship to be enfranchised are being challenged by civil rights and citizen groups in Kansas and North Carolina.
Tomorrow, more than 20 faith, labor, and community groups plan to mobilize “grassroots opposition” to an effort to move up the start date for a new Kansas voter registration law, the Associated Press reports. In particular, the groups oppose Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s push to require first-time voter registrants to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote in the 2012 election, rather than waiting until the January 2013 enactment date.
Last month, election officials cautioned against Kobach’s plan to implement the new citizenship law during a presidential election year.
“If you rush implementation of a policy, you have a stronger chance of mistakes,” said Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew in an August 15 Lawrence Journal World report.
Access to citizenship documents is also a concern for voters: as many as seven percent of citizens are unable to go through this extra hurdle to vote because they do not have their birth certificates, U.S. passports, or naturalization papers on hand, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Today, the Lawyer’s Committee and ACLU Voting Rights Project asked the Justice Department to reject or request more information on a North Carolina voter registration law that makes it “significantly more difficult” for recently naturalized citizens to participate in the democratic process.
The new law allows the state to verify citizenship of voters and purge them from the rolls if they do not provide adequate proof of citizenship. However, because the state voter registration database is compared to the often outdated motor vehicle database, new citizens–and even native-born citizens–are being flagged to submit documentary proof of citizenship, or risk being purged from the voter rolls.
The law is under review by the Justice Department in certain counties due to North Carolina’s history of discriminatory voting practices.