WHY THE LWVK OPPOSES THE NEW KANSAS VOTER ID LAW

 We believe that the new voter Photo id law with the 2013 citizenship documentation is a bad law and may violate the us constitution. there must never be any cost to voting.

• Kansas already has a commonsense voter identification law that ensures that eligible voters are who they say they are on Election Day. 

• In the last five years, Kansans have cast over 10 million ballots in elections and in that time there have been only six allegations of voter fraud and only ONE of those was a true fraud case—a US male citizen voted in Ks. and Mo.

• To attempt to pass this legislation and supporting would be costly, time consuming. Legislators have REAL problems on which to spend their time – not this non-issue.

• Birth certificates DO NOT MATCH the current name of a Kansas married woman who has taken her husband’s name. There are approximately one million in Kansas.

• Nationwide about 11 % of all voters and as many as 200,000 Kansas’ eligible voters – mostly elderly, disabled, poor voters -- lack the government issued photo ID this law would required Kansans to present at the polls. Even students who are legal residents or  people with expired drivers licenses

• There have been no documented instances of in-person voter fraud in Kansas and adopting an overly-restrictive, burdensome law here in Kansas does not make sense.  The state is over one-half billion dollars short for the coming fiscal year already. Spending millions to “fix” a problem that doesn’t exist is absurd!

• Costs to a citizen can be a significant barrier to obtaining a photo ID. Even when the ID itself is free, there are hidden costs such as transportation to various agencies and fees related to acquiring supporting documents like birth certificates and marriage licenses for women with husbands’ last names.

• A copy of a Kansas birth certificate costs $15 and a current passport can cost between $85 and $145 (From the U.S. Department of State http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fees/fees_837.html ) depending on how quickly you need it.  America does not believe that a voter should have to pay money to vote.

• Elections cannot be fair if eligible voters are not allowed to vote.