There are 17,500 people in Kansas who will now be allowed to vote in state and local races during Tuesday’s primary election due to a ruling handed down on Friday. Of those voters, roughly 4,200 live in Sedgwick County.
Back in May, Secretary of State Kris Kobach was ordered to register thousands of suspended voters in Kansas who used the DMV to sign up to vote. Even though these voters were protected by federal law from providing proof of citizenship, Kobach made the decision to only count their votes in federal races.
But a Shawnee County district judge recently ruled last week that this dual voting system wasn’t allowed. These individuals will now be allowed to vote in state and local races.
Micah Kubich is the executive director of the ACLU of Kansas and helped challenge Kobach’s decision to create a dual voting system. He says these people could swing an election, but he’s not sure how many of them actually know they can vote.
“I think we don’t know how many of them will turn out as a result, but it’s certainly true that there are a number of elections in Sedgwick County and around the state that are anticipated to be very close," Kubich says. “They could make the decision in those races.”
He also says that because these voters will use provisional ballots, which are set aside on election day and often require up to a week to be counted, the results of some races could be delayed.
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