WICHITA, Kansas (AP) — A conservative firebrand promoting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud oversees a Kansas election system that threw out at least three times as many ballots as similarly sized states did. That is fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard.
Data collected by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission shows only six states — all among the top 10 in population — discarded more votes during the 2016 election than the 33rd-largest state of Kansas.
Kansas’ 13,717 rejected ballots even topped the 13,461 from Florida, which has about seven times as many residents.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is co-chairman of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. He is the architect of policies requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship.