African-American ministers blast Kobach photo ID law

cjonline

African-American church leaders blasted Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on Saturday for his remarks earlier this month tied to the photo identification requirement during the primary elections.

Standing on the steps of the St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church, 701 S.W. Topeka Blvd., ministers from at least five African-American churches in Topeka, Wichita and Great Bend expressed displeasure with the photo ID requirement they contend cut back on the number of minority voters casting ballots in the primary elections on Aug. 5.

"We stand here today to say that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has imposed one of the most stringent voter ID laws in the nation," said the Rev. Carieta Cain Grizzel, director of the Social Action Committee and pastor of Grant Chapel AME Church of Wichita.

Kobach "has caused 24,000 registered voters to be held in suspension that has not only insulted, dehumanized, humiliated and degraded a segment of people, but has denied life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to each and every person affected and has hit the very image of God in the face."

Kobach flatly stated the 24,000 figure was "not accurate." The state doesn't even know how many voters were unable to vote due to lack of photo ID at this time," Kobach said Saturday.

In the 2012 general election, 838 Kansas voters couldn't vote because they didn't produce photo ID, which was .007 percent of those voting in the election. That is less than one in 1,000 voters, Kobach said. The 838 were told they could vote if they returned with a photo ID and about 300 did so, he said.

A Kansas voter can obtain a free photo ID by going to a state Division of Motor Vehicles office to ask for a non-driver's license ID, Kobach said.

During a July 30 interview on WIBW 580 radio, Kobach was asked to respond to several ministers and other critics of the voter ID requirement.

"I don't know what churches — and I would put churches in quotation marks — because the vast majority of church leaders I've spoken to are fully in favor of our photo ID law," Kobach said.

On Saturday, the African-American ministers were asked how they interpreted Kobach's "churches in quotation marks" remark.