Kansas Senate Democratic Leader speaks out against poll tax legislation
Submitted by jdavidson on February 21, 2007 - 4:12pm.Kansas Issues
The following column was written by Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley:
Last week, the Kansas Senate passed the Kansas Poll Tax bill (Senate Bill 169) on a vote of 28-12, which would require Kansas voters to show a photo ID at the polls. The people of Kansas should know that this bill goes much further than that.
If made law, this poll tax bill would impose more restrictive, onerous voter registration requirements on its citizens than any other state in the entire country.
Last August, Kansas faced an embarrassingly low voter turnout. In November, only one in every two registered voters went to the polls. Our democracy is at its best when we find ways to encourage Kansans to participate and your elected leaders should be considering ways to help Kansans get to the polls. Instead, the Kansas Senate has taken steps to make voting even more difficult.
Kansans hoping to vote for the first time, or hoping to vote after moving, or even after changing their name by getting married, would now face the added requirement of providing a U.S. passport or birth certificate, or federal document showing proof they are a naturalized citizen. These additional requirements will cause mass confusion, delay and inconvenience for Kansans hoping to exercise their right to vote.
more . . .
http://www.ksdp.org/node/3088 yes, I wrote my rep. This is a HORRIBLE bill.