Once it gets to the Supreme Court, the facts won’t matter; only the 5-4 margin for the Republicans will.
This whole discussion has made me wonder if I am voting illegally. I have been voting in Federal elections from my state of last US residence (IL) and also in Canadian elections.
It looks like the trial wrapped up Monday and another Kobach witness didn’t look very good .
Kobach’s team found themselves in the weeds again regarding the status of a witness. Sue Becker, Kobach lawyer, introduced Pat McFerron, a pollster hired by Kobach, as an expert witness.
Judge Robinson explained to Becker that expert witnesses had to be disclosed to the court in advance and that McFerron was entered as a fact witness. Robinson allowed the testimony to take place and said she would decide later if he would be considered as an expert.
McFerron was scrutinized by the ACLU regarding a survey Kobach used to show public support for the voter ID law. According to the poll of 500 Kansans, 77 percent said they were in favor of the law.
ACLU attorney Neil Steiner brought up the possibility of bias in the wording of the survey question, which said: “In 2011, because of evidence that aliens were registering and voting in Kansas elections, the Kansas Legislature passed a law requiring that people who register to vote for the first time must prove that they are United States citizens before they can become registered. Do you support or oppose this?”
McFerron agreed the question could be considered biased.
Steiner also pointed out the poll included people who were already registered to vote, so the law did not apply to them. In McFerron’s survey, 83 percent of the 500 people surveyed were already registered to vote.
“You can’t tell this court anything about the impact of the voter registration law on people who are not already registered to vote in Kansas,” Steiner said.
The ACLU also called into question McFerron’s qualifications, noting that he failed to complete a graduate degree.
McFerron himself testified that he did not know about academic polling methods that include statistical weighting and “social desirability,” where respondents answer questions in a way that make them look good to the pollster rather than a truthful answer.
Mark Johnson, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, suggested the survey was done for political reasons. He pointed to McFerron’s work for Sam Brownback’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign, for which he was paid $98,000.
In the ACLU’s closing argument, lead attorney Dale Ho said the law only created a burden upon Kansans and their ability to register. He cited the example of the Kansas League of Women Voters and their declining registration drives after the law took effect.
“It’s about the voters who the [League] would normally be reaching through their voter registration drives,” Ho said.
This thing is just a shit show:
Ho added that Kobach’s survey evidence was filled with non-standard methodology, conducted by pollsters with no advanced degrees and filled with bias. Although Kansas has a hearing process in which people who lack proof-of-citizenship documents can speak to state officials, Ho said that information was never provided to the plaintiffs.
The attorney also pointed to a survey conducted by Hans von Spakovsky, an attorney with conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, as intentionally misleading. Von Spakovsky, who claims there could be thousands of noncitizens registered to vote in Kansas, testified that he couldn’t explain his methodology and that his work has never been peer reviewed.
There was supposed to be a contempt hearing yesterday, but so far I haven’t found anything about it.
Ah, I just had to go to a local source , of course:
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could be facing a contempt order from a federal court after a judge on Tuesday tore into the Kansas Republican about repeatedly skirting her orders.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson chastised Kobach, a candidate for governor, at a contempt hearing for suggesting that her previous orders have left any room for ambiguity.
"I’ve had to police this over and over and over again,” Robinson said with frustration during the hearing in Kansas City, Kan.
Robinson in 2016 ordered Kobach to fully register thousands of Kansas voters who had registered at the DMV but had failed to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, as required by a Kansas law that Kobach crafted.
“The real question is why has the secretary of state not complied with it until he’s called on it. … There’s been no change of rules. There’s been no ambiguity,” Robinson said.
Robinson’s preliminary order, which was issued in 2016, remains in effect while the litigation continues.
She scolded Kobach for initially informing the voters covered by her order that they were registered only for the 2016 election and for failing to ensure that they receive the same postcard notifications about their registration as other voters.
“I made it clear they’re fully registered voters,” she said, pounding her desk with her hand.
Robinson told Kobach during a 2016 telephone conference that she would hold him responsible for directing counties to send out these postcards. He promised to do his best and narrowly dodged a contempt hearing in 2016 because of this agreement.
"I honored and trusted what you told me, Mr. Kobach,” Robinson said Tuesday, reminding Kobach of his ethical obligation as an attorney to tell the truth.
Neil Steiner, a New York attorney working on the ACLU’s team, grilled Bryan Caskey, the state’s director of elections, on whether Kobach’s office had instructed counties to send the postcards to voters covered by Robinson’s order.
Caskey confirmed that he never sent written instructions explicitly telling counties to send out postcards. He said it was discussed on an October 2016 conference call with county election officials, contradicting testimony he had previously delivered during the trial.
Kobach contended that some county election officials had misinterpreted an email from Caskey and failed to send the postcards.
Caskey testified that Douglas County, Shawnee County and Riley County failed to send the postcards but that Sedgwick County’s election commissioner has told him she did send the postcards.
He said he had no knowledge whether Johnson County, the state’s most populous county, sent postcard notices to voters affected by the order. He also could not give a comprehensive breakdown of the rest of the state’s counties.
Caskey struggled to recall the details of his conversations with county election officials and also whether Kobach had instructed him to order counties to send the postcards. Steiner pressed Caskey on whether it was his understanding that Robinson’s order required this.
“I think I’ve been unsure of that from time to time,” he replied after a long pause.
The courts are only good as a deterrent if they actually do their jobs.
Meanwhile, Trump is President and all it cost Kris Kobach to help make that happen was $1000.
Hari_Seldon:
Once it gets to the Supreme Court, the facts won’t matter; only the 5-4 margin for the Republicans will.
This whole discussion has made me wonder if I am voting illegally. I have been voting in Federal elections from my state of last US residence (IL) and also in Canadian elections.
Do you realize how many stereotypes about your “state of last US residence” you just reinforced with this admission?
According to the US government:
Most U.S. citizens 18 years or older who reside outside the United States are eligible to vote absentee for federal office candidates in U.S. primary and general elections.
For voting purposes, your state of legal residence is generally the state where you resided immediately before leaving the United States, even if you no longer own or rent property or intend to return in the future.
A single person can reinforce stereotypes? Wouldn’t that just be conformational bias on the part of the observer?
Hmmm, you just explained racism, good job.
What stereotypes, exactly are you finding reinforced by his “admission?”
k9bfriender:
A single person can reinforce stereotypes? Wouldn’t that just be conformational bias on the part of the observer?
Hmmm, you just explained racism, good job.
What stereotypes, exactly are you finding reinforced by his “admission?”
Election fraud Chicago style: Illinois’ decades-old notoriety for election corruption is legendary
Are you accusing him of committing election fraud?
I don’t think he is, but were it to be the case, then one person doing something doesn’t reinforce a stereotype, it only reinforces conformational bias on the part of an individual observer. It would be like being cut off in traffic, and saying, “That’s why ford owners make terrible drivers.”
No, and I don’t know enough about his situation or Illinois’ laws to know if he is or not. Given enelzi ’s post, I’d lean towards probably not. It was just funny pairing, given the state in question, and his “wonder if I am voting illegally” post.
I think one person doing something is exactly how stereotypes get reinforced. That doesn’t mean those stereotypes are always accurate, or that we should assume (to use your example) every Ford owner is a bad driver. And yes, there’s probably a lot of interplay between the idea of stereotypes and confirmation bias.
The fact he didn’t realize the question was a setup means he should be out of office for being so stupid.
I’m still kind of shocked that they didn’t disclose the expert witnesses properly. This kind of thing is almost litigation 101. Who the hell is litigating this for Kobach?
His dog. Hey, its a very smart dog!
Nitpick/clarification: The man who fell for the setup doesn’t hold office in Kansas. He’s a college professor in Virginia whom the Kobach team attempted to call as an expert witness (see material upthread about the violation of the rules of discovery).
He still should have been smart enough to recognize a setup when he saw it.
I’m assuming that you know the answer to this question. If not, you can find the answer here :
The ACLU will have the opportunity to show in open court how the documentary proof-of-citizenship law has blocked the voter registrations of more than 35,000 Kansans. The ACLU will also demonstrate at trial that Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is personally defending it in these proceedings …
Yes, this is the guy that we’ve twice elected as Secretary of State, and who is the Republican front-runner in this year’s gubernatorial election.
I PM’ed the author of this article and asked her when we could expect a judgment in the case. Her response was ‘I’ve heard everything from several weeks to several months.’ So I guess we’ll just sit back and wait.
Railer13:
I’m assuming that you know the answer to this question. If not, you can find the answer here :
Yes, this is the guy that we’ve twice elected as Secretary of State, and who is the Republican front-runner in this year’s gubernatorial election.
It should be noted that Mr. Kobach has private counsel helping him.
My guess is 8-11 weeks. I’m guessing the judge will want to make sure that the decision is well-backed and strong, both to prevent appeals and to make sure no one has to hear from Mr. Kobach in court ever again (which, come to think of it, is really also about preventing appeals).
I believe that is true; however, I can find no source to back that up. Perhaps you can find such a source?
I did find that another attorney from Kobach’s staff, Sue Becker, assisted with the trial, but I could find no other mention of other attorneys on Kobach’s legal team.
Kobach also faced a contempt-of-court hearing after the trial. You can read a synopsis here .
Related to this trial was the contempt-of-court hearing faced by Kobach for disregarding a judge’s order regarding the Kansas voter registration law. The decision on the contempt of court was handed down today. Kobach was found in contempt of court; read about it here .