Dear Editor,  
Are you registered to vote? Did you vote in the last election? The Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, has told us that he is protecting our right to vote. But any US citizen, with few exceptions, has the right to vote, according to far greater authority than the Kansas Secretary.
A few years ago, Kansas law was changed to demand that anyone wanting to register to vote had to document and prove they were citizens, rather than swearing under perjury that the facts they wrote as they registered were correct. But there was no problem with illegal registration! There was no problem at all. Ask for documentation, it cannot be produced! So, why was state law changed?
Secretary Kovach, in a radio interview recently said that the problem in Kansas was “illegals and those darned widows”. He must be certain that all undocumented persons would rush to Kansas and the first thing they will do is register to vote even though they are not qualified? Does he really think that? And those darned widows? Have they been voting twice to swing elections in this blood red state? Well enough said, don’t you think?
There are currently 295 applications in Barton County in suspension, 191 of those for insufficient documentation (see following paragraph for documentation evidence). They are part of the 23,678 suspensions in the state of Kansas. Some of the documents are not easily or readily available, and many require additional expense as well as time for American citizens. For instance:
List of valid citizenship documents, Affidavit of evidence of U.S. Citizenship (when name or sex does not match document), Affidavit of person requesting free certified copy of birth certificate (for those born in Kansas and want to register to vote), Request for consideration of U.S. Citizenship Documents by State Election board of Kansas (for those who don’t have the standard documentation - Form RCD), and a 14 page booklet to explain the new voter requirements.
This game changing law has cost this state millions of precious hard earned tax dollars in litigation, and folks, the games are far from over. We will certainly be back in court soon! Should we have been spending our time and energy on something important?
The Secretary of State seems to have only one recent ad on television. He says he is “Securing your right to vote”. Really, Mr. Secretary? Really? You have made an expensive, confusing problem for the voters of Kansas. We can begin to fix it!
I hope to see all of you at the polls. It is your right, and your obligation, to make sure your voice is heard.
Beverly Komarek
Great Bend