Kansas Implements Kris Kobach's Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Law and Expands Interstate Crosscheck

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach implements one of the nation’s strictest voter registration laws, requiring documentary proof of citizenship (birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers) to register to vote. Simultaneously, Kobach expands the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program to 30 states, creating a system plagued by false matches that wrongly flags legitimate voters for removal. Both initiatives claim to combat voter fraud but lack evidence of significant fraud while creating substantial barriers to legitimate voting.

Proof-of-Citizenship Requirement

Kansas’s 2013 law, championed by Kobach, requires people registering to vote to present documentary proof of citizenship—birth certificates, passports, or naturalization papers. This represents a significant escalation beyond typical voter ID requirements, which verify identity at polling places. The proof-of-citizenship requirement creates barriers at the registration stage, preventing people from even getting on voter rolls.

From 2013-2015, more than 36,000 Kansas residents—14% of those attempting to register—are placed on a “suspense list” because they fail to meet the proof-of-citizenship requirements. These would-be voters remain in limbo, unable to participate in elections until they obtain and submit qualifying documents. Many never complete the process, particularly young voters, naturalized citizens, and people who have difficulty obtaining birth certificates.

The law particularly impacts naturalized citizens, who must obtain and submit naturalization papers, and people born in other states, who must request birth certificates from other jurisdictions—processes that require time, money, and bureaucratic navigation. Young voters registering for the first time often lack ready access to these documents.

Interstate Crosscheck Program

Kobach oversees rapid expansion of the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which he inherited from his predecessor in 2011. By 2013, participation grows to 30 states. The program compares voter registration databases across states to identify people potentially registered in multiple locations, ostensibly to prevent double-voting.

However, Crosscheck’s methodology is primitive and error-prone. The program matches voters using only first name, last name, and date of birth—generating massive numbers of false matches, particularly for common names. People with names like “John Smith” or “Maria Garcia” are flagged as potential duplicate registrations when they match someone with the same name and birthdate in another state, even though they are different people.

The program is particularly problematic for voters of color, whose names are more likely to match others in the database due to naming patterns in different ethnic communities. Research shows Crosscheck generates false positives at alarming rates, potentially flagging hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters for removal from rolls based on faulty matches.

States upload entire voter registration databases to a server run by the Kansas Secretary of State—Kobach’s office—raising serious privacy and security concerns about centralized voter data. The program provides participating states with match lists that some use to purge voters or challenge registrations without adequate verification.

The Voter Fraud Myth

Kobach promotes both initiatives by claiming widespread voter fraud, particularly non-citizen voting and people voting in multiple states. However, when challenged in court, Kobach fails to provide evidence supporting these claims. A 2018 federal trial becomes a showcase for the emptiness of voter fraud allegations.

Federal Judge Julie Robinson ultimately rules against Kansas’s proof-of-citizenship law in 2018, finding that “there is no iceberg; only an icicle, largely created by confusion and administrative error.” The judge concludes that Kobach presented no credible evidence of significant non-citizen voting or fraud that would justify the law’s burdens on legitimate voters. The ruling rebukes Kobach’s fear-mongering about voter fraud as unfounded.

The trial reveals that over the period Kobach claims demonstrates a fraud crisis, Kansas prosecuted fewer than 20 potential cases of non-citizen voting out of millions of ballots cast—and many of those prosecutions involved confused naturalized citizens who misunderstood their eligibility. This represents a fraud rate of approximately 0.0004%, far below the rate at which the proof-of-citizenship law prevented legitimate registrations.

National Influence and Template

Kobach becomes a national figure in voter suppression efforts, advising other states on implementing similar restrictions and serving on Trump’s disbanded Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. His Kansas initiatives serve as templates for voter suppression efforts nationwide, despite their failures and court defeats.

The proof-of-citizenship requirement and Crosscheck program demonstrate how manufactured voter fraud crises justify restrictions that suppress legitimate voting. By claiming fraud without evidence, Kobach creates a pretext for laws that disproportionately burden young voters, naturalized citizens, people of color, and people without ready access to documents or bureaucratic resources.

Litigation and Court Defeats

Both initiatives eventually face successful legal challenges. Courts strike down the proof-of-citizenship requirement as violating the National Voter Registration Act and the Fourteenth Amendment. Crosscheck is temporarily suspended in 2018 amid lawsuits over privacy concerns and accuracy problems.

During litigation, Kobach is held in contempt of court for violations related to implementation of court orders, and judges repeatedly criticize his legal arguments and evidence. These court defeats expose the initiatives’ lack of legitimate justification and their design to suppress rather than protect voting.

Significance

Kobach’s Kansas initiatives exemplify modern voter suppression’s reliance on fraud myths to justify restrictions. By claiming a voter fraud crisis without evidence, suppression advocates create pretexts for laws that impose significant burdens on legitimate voters while addressing virtually nonexistent problems.

The proof-of-citizenship requirement demonstrates escalation in voter restrictions—moving from ID requirements at polling places to documentary barriers at registration. This progression makes voting harder at every stage, with each restriction justified by unsubstantiated fraud claims.

Crosscheck illustrates how data systems, when poorly designed or maliciously implemented, can become tools for mass disenfranchisement. The program’s primitive matching generates thousands of false positives that states use to purge legitimate voters, all under the guise of election integrity.

The racial and demographic impacts are clear: both initiatives disproportionately burden voters of color, young voters, and naturalized citizens. Like historical literacy tests and poll taxes, modern restrictions use facially neutral requirements (prove citizenship, no duplicate registrations) that have discriminatory effects based on who has ready access to documents and whose names are more likely to generate false matches.

Kobach’s national prominence despite his initiatives’ failures demonstrates how voter suppression advocates gain influence and spread tactics across states regardless of empirical evidence or legal defeats. The template he provides—claim fraud without evidence, implement restrictions, defend them with debunked arguments—becomes standard practice for Republican secretaries of state nationwide.

The Kansas case also shows courts’ crucial role in checking voter suppression. Despite Kobach’s high profile and political power, federal courts ultimately reject his initiatives as unfounded and unconstitutional. However, the years these programs operated before court defeats demonstrate the damage done: tens of thousands of Kansans prevented from registering, many never completing the process even after court victories.

Kobach’s work epitomizes the intersection of voter suppression advocacy, political ambition, and manufactured crises. His use of the Kansas Secretary of State position as a platform for national voter suppression efforts, combined with his eventual gubernatorial campaign, shows how election administration offices can be weaponized for partisan advantage and political advancement.