Also see: “Advocate for Tough Voting Rules to Steer Trump’s Elections Commission,” by Michael Wines and Julie Bosman, The New York Times, May 14, 2017. This profile follows his appointment as vice-chair by Trump to his Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/us/kris-kobach-voter-fraud.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0.
143. “Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection, Proposition 200 (2004),” ballotpedia.org. The text and litigation summary of Arizona’s 2004 state ballot measure, Proposition 200. https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_Taxpayer_and_Citizen_Protection,_Proposition_200_(2004).
Also see: “Uncovering Kris Kobach’s Anti-Voting History,” by Tomas Lopez and Jennifer L. Clark, The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, May 11, 2017. https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/uncovering-kris-kobach%E2%80%99s-anti-voting-history.
144. Same as 142, “Kris Kobach,” Wikipedia section on “Immigration lawsuits.”
Also see: “The Man Behind Trump’s Voter Fraud Obsession,” by Ari Berman, The New York Times Magazine, June 18, 2017. This further details Kobach’s anti-immigrant work. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the-man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html?mcubz=2&_r=0.
145. Same as 134: “Separate and Unequal Voting in Arizona and Kansas: Two states want to create a two-tiered voting system reminiscent of the Jim Crow South,” by Ari Berman, The Nation, October 15, 2013. This report recounts the efforts by Kansas and Arizona to add documented proof of citizenship to their state voter registration forms, notes how Arizona law blocked more than thirty thousand people from registering, notes its Kansas corollary stopped over seventeen thousand people from registering, and reports the 2013 US Supreme Court ruling against Arizona.
Also see: Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (Amicus Brief), by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, June 17, 2013. This webpage summarized the Supreme Court case and has links to all the briefs filed by voting rights advocates. http://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/arizona-v-inter-tribal-council-arizona-inc-amicus-brief.
146. Same as 103: “Why Republicans Can’t Find the Big Voter Fraud Conspiracy: If the last federal investigation is any guide, the answer is simple: It probably doesn’t exist,” by Lisa Rab, Politico Magazine, April 2, 2017. This feature includes Kobach’s 2010 comments on voter fraud burrowing into every corner of United States and illegal aliens voting in Kansas.
147. “Proof of US Citizenship for Voter Registration: NOTE: This requirement is effective January 1, 2013.” GotVoterId.com. This is Kansas’s website page describing its proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration. http://www.gotvoterid.com/proof-of-citizenship.html.
Also see: “Secretary of State Kris Kobach announces first conviction of noncitizen voting in Kansas,” by Hunter Woodall, KansasCity.com, April 12, 2017. This report notes that Kobach is the nation’s only secretary with power to prosecute voter fraud. http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article144256424.html.
148. “Appeals court nixes proof of citizenship for voting in Georgia,” by Kristina Torres, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 11, 2016. This report recounts the history of the state’s proof of citizenship laws for voter registration and efforts by Republicans to get the US Election Assistance Commission to include that requirement in its voter registration materials. http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt—politics/appeals-court-nixes-proof-citizenship-for-voting-georgia/wq0WTs7FtiqWeQQNHldaPP/.
149. Kobach et al. v. The United States Election Assistance Commission, by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, June 29, 2015. This webpage summarizes the 2015 suit by Arizona and Kansas against the US Election Assistance Commission over adding the requirement of citizenship to state voter registration forms. In 2013, the US Supreme Court overturned a 2004 Arizona law requiring citizenship proof for the federal voter registration form. http://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/kobach-et-al-v-united-states-election-assistance-commission.
Also same as 144: “The Man Behind Trump’s Voter Fraud Obsession,” by Ari Berman, The New York Times Magazine, June 18, 2017.
150. Same as 149. Kobach et al. v. The United States Election Assistance Commission, by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, June 29, 2015.
151. League of Women Voters v. Newby, by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, June 1, 2017. This page summarizes the litigation surrounding the unilateral decision by US Election Assistance Commission executive director Brian Newby to include proof of citizenship instructions from three states on the EAC’s federal voter registration materials. It also notes how prior academic research has found that 7 percent of voters could be disenfranchised by this requirement. https://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/league-women-voters-v-newby.
152. Same as 151. League of Women Voters v. Newby, by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, June 1, 2017.
153. Same as 144: “The Man Behind Trump’s Voter Fraud Obsession,” by Ari Berman, The New York Times Magazine, June 18, 2017.
154. “Kris Kobach supports Donald Trump’s assertion millions voted illegally,” by Tim Carpenter, The Topeka Capital-Journal, November 30, 2016. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach agrees with Trump that as many as 3 million noncitizens voted illegally. http://cjonline.com/news/2016-11-30/kris-kobach-supports-donald-trump-s-assertion-millions-voted-illegally.
155. “Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions,” by Christopher Famighetti, Douglas Keith, Myrna Perez, by the Brennan Canter for Justice at New York University School of Law, May 5, 2017. This report surveyed the ten counties with the largest noncitizen populations in United States to see the extent of noncitizen voting in 2016—following Trump’s claims that upwards of 3 million immigrant illegally voted, thus preventing him from a national popular vote majority. The Brennan Center found only thirty cases of noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes cast in 2016 from these counties. https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/noncitizen-voting-missing-millions.
156. Same as 142: “Advocate for Tough Voting Rules to Steer Trump’s Elections Commission,” by Michael Wines and Julie Bosman, The New York Times, May 14, 2017. This profile of Kris Kobach’s career notes his anti-immigrant advocacy, exaggerated claims of noncitizen voting and voter fraud, and how his policies have disenfranchised thousands while only one noncitizen voter was found—only nine people were successfully prosecuted for voter fraud.
157. “Critics See Efforts by Counties and Towns to Purge Minority Voters From Rolls,” by Michael Wines, The New York Times, July 31, 2016. This report recounts how in Sparta, Georgia, local Republicans deployed sheriff deputies to question the voting credentials of blacks in 2015 before a mayoral election. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/critics-see-efforts-to-purge-minorities-from-voter-rolls-in-new-elections-rules.html?mcubz=2&_r=0.
158. “New Georgia Project releases financial records, renews voter push,” by Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 11, 2016. This report recounts how the New Georgia Project submitted forty-one thousand voter registrations before the 2014 November election that were not processed—denying those registrants the vote that fall. After Election Day, eighteen thousand of those registrants were added to voter rolls. http://www.myajc.com/news/state—regional-govt—politics/new-georgia-project-releases-financial-records-renews-voter-push/JoatzFC6XHZQ8GcACOsRN/.
159. “Quick Response Evaluation: Accuracy of the Help America Vote Verification Program Responses,” June 22, 2009 memo from Inspector General Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr., Social Security Administration, memo to SSA Commissioner. This internal agency report notes how using the last four digits of Social Security numbers, verses the full nine-digit numbers, creates twice as many false positives. “Our comparison of the FY 2008 ver
ification responses for HAVV [SSA’s system] and three other verification programs used by the States and employers —SSNVS, E-Verify, and SSOLV—showed that HAVV had a significantly higher no-match response rate. The three verification systems were developed for different purposes and [they] use varying tolerances because they require the full nine-digit SSN for verification. HAVV, on the other hand, does not use these same tolerances because it requires use of the last four digits of the SSN as mandated by the legislation. The no-match response rate for the three other programs ranged from 6 to 15 percent, whereas HAVV’s no-match response rate was 31 percent. Therefore, HAVV’s no-match response rate was about two to five times higher than the no-match response rate for the other three programs.” https://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/html/A-03-09-29115_7.html.
160. Same as 136: “Additional Data Could Help State and Local Elections Officials Maintain Accurate Voter Registration Lists,” US Government Accountability Office, June 2005. This report notes matching used by states to verify voter registrations is error prone. It cites a Wisconsin study of its motor vehicle database, saying, “The matching and validation of names are complex and made more so when considering aliases and name changes, as are matches such as ‘Margie L. Smith’ with ‘Margaret Smith’ according to a Wisconsin study. The study estimated that even a 1 percent error rate on a match validating names, driver license numbers, etc. could generate tens of thousands of bad matches.”
161. “Georgia judge sides with state in ‘missing’ voters case,” by Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 29, 2014. This report describes the electronic matching process used by county election offices to verify the identities of new voters under direction of the Georgia Secretary of State. In addition to “pinging” the state driver’s license database and federal Social Security database, it also pings the state Department of Corrections, whose information is not up-to-date. http://www.myajc.com/news/state—regional-govt—politics/georgia-judge-sides-with-state-missing-voters-case/AkvPr6mP9FiMXglh5NUlHJ/.
162. Same as 161: “Georgia judge sides with state in ‘missing’ voters case,” by Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 29, 2014.
163. “From a Contentious Election to a Stronger Democracy: Strengthening democracy is the key to all other reforms,” by Miles Rapoport, The American Prospect, October 6, 2016. http://prospect.org/article/contentious-election-stronger-democracy.
164. “Voting Advocates Announce a Settlement of ‘Exact Match’ Lawsuit in Georgia: Minor Typos and Data Entry Errors will No Longer Deny Eligible Georgians the Right to Register and Vote,” press release from Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and others, February 10, 2017. https://lawyerscommittee.org/press-release/voting-advocates-announce-settlement-exact-match-lawsuit-georgia/.
165. Same as 62: Issues Related to Registering Voters and Administering Elections, US Government Accountability Office, June 2016. This report describes how The Interstate Crosscheck program works on page 30 in footnote 45. “Participating states agree to provide information such as full name and date of birth for those registered as well as turnout data, to Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck program administrators in January following a general election. Using the information provided by member states, the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck program then provides states with data on potential duplicate registrations and potential double voters.”
166. BRIEF OF FORMER ATTORNEYS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER, filed March 9, 2017, at the US Supreme Court. This brief filed by former Republican appointees at the Justice Department under President George W. Bush urges the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling that found Ohio had illegally purged inactive voters under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. On pages 16–19, it describes the 2015 to 2016 activity of the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which tries to identify possible duplicate registrations and combat double voting. It notes that thirty states are participants, but only twenty-five states used it as of February 2016. It reported that Georgia had 540,245 “potential voter registration duplications.” In these states, including Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, Nevada, and Colorado, more than 5,935,000 voters were flagged as suspicious based on Crosscheck’s imprecise matching criteria. http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/16-980-cert-amicus-former-doj-attorneys.pdf.
167. BRIEF OF GEORGIA AND 14 OTHER STATES AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER, filed March 10, at the US Supreme Court. This is the brief filed by Georgia and fourteen other states urging the Court to hear Ohio’s appeal of a decision that found it had unconstitutionally purged 144,000 voters before the 2016 election. That ruling found the state did not follow the protocols in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Georgia and other red states said the law was ambiguous and they should be allowed to purge inactive voters. The Supreme Court will hear the case in its fall term. http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/16-980-cert-amicus-Georgia.pdf.
CHAPTER 12: THE FINISH LINE
168. “Florida halts purge of noncitizens from voter rolls,” by Steve Bousquet and Amy Sherman, Tampa Bay Times, March 27, 2014. Florida secretary of state stops a 2014 mass purge after local election officials revolted about his inaccurate voter purge lists. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/florida-halts-purge-of-noncitizens-from-voter-rolls/2172206.
169. Same as 52: The Fight to Vote, by Michael Waldman, See pages 174–8 for Florida’s massive 2000 voter purge.
170. “The National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA): Questions and Answers,” The United States Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/crt/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra.
171. Same as 129: “Florida: An Outlier in Denying Voting Rights,” by Erika Wood, The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, December 16, 2016.
172. Same as 52: The Fight to Vote, by Michael Waldman, See pages 174–8 for Florida’a massive 2000 voter purge.
173. “This Election Is Being Rigged—but Not by Democrats: The GOP’s voter-suppression efforts are the real voter fraud,” by Ari Berman, The Nation, October 17, 2016. This report cites of the results of a legal settlement in NAACP v. Florida where rerunning then secretary of state Katherine Harris’s felon list with tighter criteria found twelve thousand voters were mistakenly purged in 2000. It also notes Trump’s cry to “Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging This Election,” the crowd’s “Lock her up” chants, and Trump’s baseless accusations that Democrats steal millions of votes. https://www.thenation.com/article/this-election-is-being-rigged/.
174. Same as 168: “Florida halts purge of noncitizens from voter rolls,” by Steve Bousquet and Amy Sherman, Tampa Bay Times, March 27, 2014.
175. “The GOP’s Stealth War Against Voters: Will an anti-voter-fraud program designed by one of Trump’s advisers deny tens of thousands their right to vote in November?” by Greg Palast, Rolling Stone, August 24, 2016. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-gops-stealth-war-against-voters-w435890.
176. Same as 166: BRIEF OF FORMER ATTORNEYS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER, filed March 9, 2017, at the US Supreme Court. This brief was filed by six former Justice Department officials, including four who were appointed by George W. Bush and oversaw the DOJ’s unsuccessful voter fraud prosecutions. They include: Colonel Karl S. “Butch” Bowers, Robert D. Popper, Bradley J. Schlozman, and Hans A. von Spakovsky. Pages 16–19 details the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program’s 2016 activities, including twenty-five states’ numbers of suspicious registrations totaling 5.9 million voters.
177. A Philip Randolph Institute, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Larry Harmon v. Jon Husted, Secretary of State, September 23, 2016 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, File Name 16a0241p.06. This is the ruling that
found Ohio had violated the National Voter Registration Act by purging inactive voters. The state appealed it to the US Supreme Court, which will hear it in its fall 2017 term.
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/16-980-op-bel-6th-cir.pdf.
178. Same as 84: “The Supreme Court Could Make It Easier for States to Purge Voters: The Court has decided to hear a new case from Ohio, where Democrats were twice as likely as Republicans to be purged from the rolls in the state’s largest counties,” by Ari Berman, The Nation, May 30, 2017. This update on the Supreme Court agreeing to hear Ohio’s appeal notes that the GOP-led purges were disproportionately in black and Democratic neighborhoods in its three largest cities: Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. “At least 144,000 voters in Ohio’s three largest counties, home to Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, were purged since the 2012 election, with voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods twice as likely to be removed as those in Republican-leaning ones, according to a Reuters analysis. These cities are heavily Democratic, with large minority populations, and there was a clear partisan and racial disparity to the state’s voter purge.”
179. “Use it or lose it: Occasional Ohio voters may be shut out in November,” by Andy Sullivan and Grant Smith, Reuters, June 2, 2016. The investigative report found the GOP secretary of state had disproportionately purged inactive voters in blue epicenters compared to nearby red regions. “In Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County, 5 percent of voters in neighborhoods that backed Obama by more than 60 percent in 2012 were purged last year due to inactivity, according to the Reuters analysis of the voter lists. In neighborhoods where Obama got less than 40 percent of the vote, 2.5 percent of registered voters were removed for that reason. In Franklin County, home to the state capital Columbus, 11 percent of voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods have been purged since 2012 due to inactivity. Only 6 percent of voters in Republican-leaning neighborhoods have been purged. The disparity is especially stark in Hamilton County, where affluent Republican suburbs ring Cincinnati, which has one of the highest child-poverty rates in the country. In the heavily African-American neighborhoods near downtown, more than 10 percent of registered voters have been removed due to inactivity since 2012. In suburban Indian Hill, only 4 percent have been purged due to inactivity.” http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-votingrights-ohio-insight-idUSKCN0YO19D.
Inside Job Page 19