Kris Kobach
Kris William Kobach (born March 26, 1966) is the Secretary of State of Kansas, serving since 2011. President Donald Trump appointed Kobach in 2017 as the Vice-chair of the Commission on Voter Integrity.[1][2][3]
Political career
Kobach unsuccessfully ran for congress in 1993.[4]
In 2001, Kobach took a leave of absence from his job as a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to become a White House fellow assigned to the Justice Department in the George W. Bush administration. There, Kobach worked on implementing the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS).[4]
Kobach served as chairman of the Kansas Republican Party from 2007 to 2009.[4]
While Kansas Secretary of State, Kobach joined an "Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program" program to compare the names and birth date of the voter rolls in different states for common entries. However, Kansas had not originally collected birth dates, so some long-standing voters were included as being born in 1900. Liberal critics claim that because African-Americans tend to have common names more than the population as a whole, striking voters from the voter rolls based on such comparisons discriminates against them.[4] Kobach also convinced Kansas to give the Secretary of State the power to prosecute criminal charges for voter fraud in 2015. According to The New York Times, "the nine convictions he has won since 2015 have primarily been citizens 60 and over who own property in two states and were confused about voting requirements."[4]
On June 8, 2017, Kobach announced his candidacy in the 2018 Kansas gubernatorial race.[4][5]
References
- ↑ Schallhorn, Kaitlyn (July 19, 2017). Trump voter fraud commission: Here's what to know. Fox News. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Persons, Sally (May 15, 2017). Kobach says commission on voter fraud will look into suppression, irregularities. The Washington Times. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Kamisar, Ben; Wheeler, Lydia (July 19, 2017). Kobach points to ‘lingering doubts’ in opening voter fraud commission. The Hill. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "The Man Behind Trump’s Voter-Fraud Obsession", New York Times Magazine, June 13, 2017. Retrieved on July 21, 2017.
- ↑ Hayward, John (June 9, 2017). Kris Kobach Enters Kansas Governor Race to End ‘Insane’ Policies like Charging American Students Three Times as Much as Illegals. Breitbart News. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
