Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Submission Preview

Kansas Secretary of State Finally Convicts an Immigrant of a Voting Irregularity

Rejected submission by -- OriginalOwner_ http://tinyurl.com/OriginalOwner at 2017-04-14 05:43:47 from the statistically-insignificant-but-at-a-high-cost dept.
News

The editorial board of The Kansas City Star notes [kansascity.com]

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach [...] announced [April 12] [kansascity.com] that he'd achieved an elusive goal--catching an immigrant who voted illegally in a Kansas election.

Victor David Garcia Bebek of Wichita pleaded guilty to voter fraud. The Peruvian native's voting record was uncovered after he registered to vote and it was discovered that he'd already voted three times in past elections. It's a misdemeanor.

A cautionary note for those tempted to crow that the case confirms the nonsense about undocumented immigrants committing widespread voter fraud: Bebek was discovered after he gained U.S. citizenship this year. He was legally present in the country when he cast previous votes.

[In 2015, Kobach sought and gained the power to conduct manhunts for fraudulent voters.]

The secretary of state's nearly two years of work have netted a grand total of eight convictions for election law violations. The other seven people prosecuted by Kobach's office were U.S.-born citizens found to have done things like voting in one state, moving to another and also voting there. That's voter confusion, not intentional fraud.

[...]Kobach is the only secretary of state with the power to prosecute voter fraud [kansascity.com]

[...]Elsewhere, secretaries of state are content to concentrate on ensuring that the voting rolls are up to date and that people are eligible when they register. Some even encourage citizens to vote.

Kobach discourages voting by sowing confusion and throwing up unnecessary hurdles for people trying to register. That undermines democracy.

The vast majority of issues framed as voter fraud are not intentional acts to deceive. Often, the discrepancy involves typographical errors in voter rolls, such as mistakes in addresses, transposed names and numbers, or confusion by voters.


Original Submission