With Kansas set for its August 7 primary, voting rights supporters are waiting with bated breath to see how severe the suppressive effects of voter ID (sponsored by Representative Lance Kinzer, an ALEC member) will be. KanVote will have volunteers at the polls.
A recent Brennan Center report highlighted our concerns, including Wichita’s lone ID office that must serve 160,700 eligible voters. And 7,373 eligible voters in Kansas have no car and live more than 10 miles from offices where they can get free state-issued IDs.
Brennan Center President Michael Waldman:
This report conclusively demonstrates that this promise of free voter ID is a mirage. In the real world, poor voters find shuttered offices, long drives without cars, and with spotty or no bus service, and sometimes prohibitive costs. For these Americans, the promise of our democracy is tangibly distant. It can be measured in miles.
For more information, check out The Right to Vote under Attack: The Campaign to Keep Millions of Americans from the Ballot Box, a Right Wing Watch: In Focus report by PFAW Foundation.