ACLU sues Kansas over voter registration database

WICHITA, Kan. — A civil rights group filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach challenging a multi-state voter registration database that it claims exposed sensitive information including partial Social Security numbers of nearly a thousand state voters.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas alleges “reckless maintenance” of the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which compares voter registration lists among participating states to look for duplicates. The program is aimed at cleaning voter records and preventing voter fraud but has drawn criticism for its high error rate and lax security.

Kobach, a conservative Republican seeking his party’s nomination for governor, was vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded commission on election fraud. The ACLU claims that Kobach has made the program a linchpin in his efforts to reduce citizen participation in Kansas elections.

“This ACLU lawsuit is yet another attack on secure and fair elections in America,” Kobach said in an emailed statement. “The ACLU is attacking states that try to keep our voter rolls clean. I will fight them every step of the way.”

Kobach called the lawsuit baseless, citing the U.S. Supreme Court last week in an Ohio case dealing with maintenance of voter rolls.