Notorious Von Spakovsky Email On Voter Fraud Commission Entered As Evidence

Source: Talking Points Memo


By Tierney Sneed | March 9, 2018 4:18 pm

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS — In order to impeach the testimony of Hans von Spakovsky, a witness called to defend Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship requirement, ACLU lawyer Dale Ho introduced as evidence an email von Spakovsky wrote about the now-defunct Trump voter fraud commission.

In the email, von Spakovsky said that putting Democrats or even “mainstream Republicans” on the commission would result in “abject failure.” The email was eventually passed on to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Ho also presented a transcript of an audio recording in which von Spakovsky denied to a reporter that he had sent the email. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is defending the law, objected, unsuccessfully, to the admission of the transcript.

Last September, before von Spakovsky was revealed as the sender, a reporter for Pro Publica asked him about the email, which was originally surfaced via a FOIA request, with the name of the sender redacted. Von Spakovsky denied sending it.


Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/von-spakovsky-email-voter-fraud-commission

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Kobach Wanted Trump To Incentivize States To Adopt Proof Of Citizenship

By Tierney Sneed | March 9, 2018 6:53 pm

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS — A proposal Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach took to a meeting with then-President-elect Donald Trump in November 2016 included a proposal to amend the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to “promote proof-of citizenship requirements.”

The phrase referred to an idea Kobach was seeking to propose to incentivize states to enact their own proof of citizenship requirement, Kobach said in a deposition vide played at the trial for a challenge to Kansas’ version of the requirement.

The original NVRA encouraged states to adopt same-day registration by waiving for those states some of the NVRA’s provisions. Kobach’s idea was that a hypothetical newly amended NVRA would have provisions that would be waived for states if they adopt a proof of citizenship voter registration requirement.

Kobach said in his deposition that in his meeting with Trump — which included top members of Trump’s incoming administration — they did not get to discuss that proposal. A copy of the proposal was handed to all of the meeting participants.

Kobach said in the deposition that the topic of non-citizens registering to vote was discussed in general terms.

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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/kobach-trump-proof-of-citizenship