Kobach transcript: Changes to U.S. election law discussed

WICHITA, Kan. — The vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission says he wants to change U.S. election law so states have an incentive to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, according to a deposition unsealed Thursday.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a leading advocate of tighter voting laws, gave the testimony in a deposition made public as part of a federal lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union challenging a Kansas voter registration law that requires documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers.

The deposition in August is the result of an ACLU court filing after Kobach was photographed holding a document with the words on one page facing out as he entered a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump to talk about immigration. The ACLU asked a court to force Kobach to release the document. A federal judge said there was a pattern of Kobach misleading the court in that suit, fined him $1,000 and ordered him to submit to questioning under oath by the ACLU.

The photographed document Kobach took into his meeting with Trump was titled “Department of Homeland Security Kobach Strategic Plan for First 365 Days.” It included the header “Stop aliens from voting.”

At the deposition, Kobach said the issue of noncitizen voting was discussed.

The purpose of that meeting was to discuss the possibility of Kobach becoming secretary of homeland security, which has a major say in immigration matters.

During his deposition, Kobach acknowledged he has talked about documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration with the election fraud commission.