IRLI Files Brief in the Supreme Court Supporting Citizen Rights in Kansas and Arizona

April 23, 2015

Protecting Voter Integrity from the Effects of Amnesty and Ungoverned Immigration

April 23, 2015

(Washington, D.C.) – The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Kobach v. U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a case currently pending approval for a hearing before the Supreme Court. (Civil Action No. 14-1164). IRLI’s brief is in support of the petitioners, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who seek to appeal a ruling by the Tenth Circuit affirming the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)’s decision to refuse to include the states’ proof-of-citizenship voter registration instructions on the National Mail Voter Registration Form. The states’ lawfully enacted statutes were designed to ensure that only eligible U.S. citizen voters can decide elections as is mandated under the federal National Voter Registration Act.

In their supplemental brief filed today, IRLI argues that the EAC’s decision failed to appreciate the burdens, inadequacies and otherwise inapplicability of the “alternative means” they demanded states use in lieu of proof-of-citizenship measures. The EAC’s “alternative” methods for finding ineligible voters, mostly cross-checking voter rolls against various government databases, fail to stop the cancellation effects of illegitimate votes already cast, fail to uncover illegal alien-voters, increase the likelihood of accidental purging of eligible voters, and create an unreasonable reliance upon uncooperative federal agencies.

Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI’s Executive Director, commented, “In light of the nation’s unprecedented noncitizen and illegal alien (including deferred action-recipient) populations and their newfound ability and incentives to vote in federal elections, states such as Kansas and Arizona have been forced to seek more efficient and effective measures in order to fulfil their mandate of protecting legitimate voters from the cancellation effects of fraudulent voting.” Wilcox continued, “As IRLI’s brief shows, preventing these states from protecting their voters is anti-citizen in general and only serves to undermine public confidence in the integrity of our electoral process.”

IRLI’s friend-of-the-court brief is attached here.