The Kobach Voting Rights Trial: Live Updates

[DonViejo]

-snip-

3/12, 10:32 a.m. CT – Kobach presents another “expert” witness:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

3/12, 10:01 a.m. CT – Kobach accused of withholding evidence: The challengers in the case accused the Kansas Secretary of State of withholding evidence Monday.

At issue are records associated with the five or six Kansans who lacked proof of citizenship and therefore went through a hearing process to register to vote, as well as evidence of those who sought to use the process but didn’t ultimately register through a hearing.

The accusations came because Kansas last week said it would like to call an additional witness — Jo French, a 75-year-old woman, who was registered through the hearing process — to testify about the process, which Kansas offers for those who can’t obtain the required records. Kansas wanted to call her because a witness for the challengers talked at length about the hearing process, which Kansas said it didn’t expect.

In the hearing process, Kansans lacking the documents required under the proof of citizenship law fill out forms requesting a hearing so that they can prove their citizenship. The hearing is typically with the secretary, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general or his designee.

The challengers were able to interview French before trial started Monday, and through the process discovered that there are records related to her going through the hearing process that they say should have been turned over during discovery. They said the records — including the forms and any other records presented as part of the hearing — bolstered their case in showing how burdensome the process actually was.

The judge seemed to agree that Kansas should have produced the records. Kobach admitted that they didn’t keep records of those who called his office inquiring about the hearing process but not ultimately going through it. There were records of five people formally requesting and going through the hearing. The circumstances around a sixth were a bit of a mystery, because that person filled out a form but may have not gone through the hearing — Kansas didn’t have the other records, either way.

The judge is allowing French to testify later today.

-snip- All of last week's updates

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/kobach-voting-rights-trial/live-updates

[Gothmog]

1. This is my new favorite soap opera