Judge denies restraining order against Kobach in suspended voter case

Election officials are free to remove names from the suspended voter list beginning Friday.

A federal judge decided not to grant a restraining order against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as his office moves forward with a controversial new voter registration rule.

Kobach faces a lawsuit from two suspended voters being represented by Paul Davis, who ran as the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.

The state enacted a law in 2013 that requires voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when they register. The policy has left thousands of voters in incomplete registration status, and the state’s suspended voter list has ballooned to nearly 37,000.

Davis had sought a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent Kobach from moving forward with a rule, set to take effect Friday, that will remove a person’s name from the list if he or she hasn’t provided proof of citizenship within 90 days.

Kobach’s critics have called this a purge.

Kobach and Davis presented their arguments to federal Judge Carlos Murguia in a telephone conference late Thursday. The judge decided against issuing the temporary restraining order, meaning that local election offices will proceed with the policy on Friday, but the overall case will remain pending in court.

“I pointed out to the judge that this issue has been a matter of public discussion and the first version of the regulation was published months ago and the plaintiffs waited until the 11th hour to come to court and request the temporary restraining order,” Kobach said.

Kobach said a temporary restraining order requires a plaintiff show that he will suffer irreparable harm. Kobach said that the records won’t be deleted once the voters are taken off the list and that the record can be restored if Davis’ team prevails in the case. Kobach also said that in larger counties it will take local election officials several days to determine which names should be removed from the list.

Davis said in a statement that the judge “said he took Mr. Kobach at his word that no voters would be irreparably harmed.”

“Our clients look forward to having their day in court where they can make their case that the Secretary of State’s voter removal plan violates the National Voter Registration Act and their rights under the United States Constitution,” Davis said. “This case is far from over.”

Kobach has accused Davis of seeking to raise his political profile through the case. He said neither he nor Attorney General Derek Schmidt had been served the complaint yet, but pointed out that the plaintiffs were quick to share their case with media.

The Kansas Democratic Party was also aware of the case before it was filed.

“It’s disappointing that the plaintiffs didn’t bother to serve either the defendant or the attorney general and yet they were quite eager to share their complaint with the media and a political party,” Kobach said. “To me that suggests that their interests are more ‘out of court’ than in court.”

The Secretary of State’s Office has sent instructions to county clerks on how to proceed with the 90-day rule.

The instructions, which were obtained by The Eagle, tell clerks that if a voter “is currently listed as ‘suspense’ with a reason of proof of citizenship not provided. Beginning October 2nd, the county election officer should cancel Voter’s record.”

Kobach said some voters in suspense status in smaller counties may be removed as soon as Friday. He recommended that anyone who is on the list, who wishes to vote in the next election, e-mail a copy of their birth certificate or passport Friday to their local election office.

The Eagle has posted the suspended voter list as a searchable website on Kansas.com so that Kansans can determine whether they or their loved ones are on the list.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Judge denies restraining order against Kobach in suspended voter case."