WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Residents of Kansas, Georgia and Alabama will have to prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote for federal elections using a national form, a judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided against a coalition of voting rights groups that sued a U.S. elections official who changed the proof-of-citizenship requirements on the federal registration form at the request of the three states and without public notice. Residents of other states only need to swear they are citizens, not show proof.
The judge refused to issue a temporary injunction sought by voting rights advocates to overturn the move by Brian Newby, the executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, until the case can be decided on its merits at trial.
Newby took the top job in November at a government agency entrusted with making voting more accessible, and then months later used the federal position to implement the obstacle to voter registration in three states.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said states must accept and use the federal voter registration form, and an appeals court ruled in 2014 in a lawsuit filed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach that states could not force the commission to require residents to provide proof-of-citizenship documents on the national form.
Newby contends he had the administrative authority to grant the request from the three states to add the documentary proof of citizenship requirements on the federal registration form used for their residents.
But voting rights advocates were stunned by Newby's February action, saying it flies in the face of the commission's mission to provide a simple, easy form to encourage voter registration. The groups argue the proof-of-citizenship requirements hurt their ability to conduct voter registration drives and deprive eligible voters of the right to vote in federal elections.