¶ Overview
Kris Kobach repeatedly promoted baseless voter fraud conspiracies and called for the elimination of ballot drop boxes.
Kobach claimed Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin “held illegitimate elections” and violated the rights of voters in other states during the 2020 election. He claimed “there’s no question” voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election and said Americans would never know “how many fraudulent ballots were cast.”
Kobach was part of a team of lawyers with close ties to the Trump 2020 campaign that planned a lawsuit to claim “there were enough inappropriate election-rule changes" that could overturn the 2020 election. Kobach helped strategize Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the election, and claimed the lawsuit presented a “clear” and “compelling case.” Kobach argued the swing states violated the constitution when they changed election rules during the 2020 election.
Kobach called for the elimination of ballot drop boxes despite a lack of voter fraud evidence and Kansas’ Republican Secretary of State, Scott Schwab, assuring Kansas’ elections were secure and drop boxes were safe. Kobach repeatedly claimed mail-in voting was the “primary avenue of voter fraud” and allowed for “ballot harvesting.”
¶ Kris Kobach Claimed Swing States “Held Illegitimate Elections” And Promoted Unsubstantiated Claims Of Voter Fraud During The 2020 Election
¶ Kobach Claimed Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, And Wisconsin “Held Illegitimate Elections” During The 2020 Election
2021: Kobach Claimed Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, And Wisconsin “Held Illegitimate Elections” And Violated The Rights Of Voters In Other States During The 2020 Election. According to the New York Times, “In an interview, Mr. Kobach explained his group’s reasoning: The states that held illegitimate elections (which happened to be won by Mr. Biden) were violating the rights of voters in states that didn’t (which happened to be won by Mr. Trump). ‘If one player in a game commits a penalty and no penalty is called by the referee, that is not fair,’ he said.” [New York Times, 1/31/21]
2022: Kobach Claimed “There’s No Question” Voter Fraud Occurred In The 2020 Election In The Battleground States Of Michigan And Pennsylvania And Said Americans Would Never Know “How Many Fraudulent Ballots Were Cast.” According to the Associated Press, “But in his interview Wednesday, Kobach said ‘there’s no question’ fraud occurred in 2020 at least the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. He added that Americans will never know ‘how many fraudulent ballots were cast.’ An Associated Press review last year of every voter fraud case from 2020 in the six presidential battleground states disputed by Trump found fewer than 475, not enough to make any difference.” [Associated Press, 10/19/22]
¶ Kobach Was A Part Of A Team Of Lawyers With Close Ties To The Trump Campaign That Planned A Lawsuit To Claim “There Were Enough Inappropriate Election-Rule Changes” That Could Overturn The 2020 Election
¶ Kobach Helped Strategize Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Lawsuit Challenging The Election Results In The 2020 Election, Citing “Enough Inappropriate Election-Rule Changes”
November 2020: Kobach Was A Part Of A Team Of Lawyers With Close Ties To The Trump Campaign That Planned A Lawsuit To Claim “There Were Enough Inappropriate Election-Rule Changes” That Could Overturn The Popular Votes In Swing States And Prompt Republican-Controlled Legislatures To Send Their Own Electors. According to the New York Times, “Yet as the suits failed in court after court across the country, leaving Mr. Trump without credible options to reverse his loss before the Electoral College vote on Dec. 14, Mr. Giuliani and his allies were developing a new legal theory — that in crucial swing states, there was enough fraud, and there were enough inappropriate election-rule changes, to render their entire popular votes invalid. As a result, the theory went, those states’ Republican-controlled legislatures would be within their constitutional rights to send slates of their choosing to the Electoral College. If the theory was short on legal or factual merit, it was rich in the sort of sensational claims — the swirl of forged ballots and ‘deep state’ manipulation of voting machines — that would allow Mr. Trump to revive his fight, give his millions of voters hope that he could still prevail and perhaps even foment enough chaos to somehow bring about an undemocratic reversal in his favor. ‘This Is the Big One’ Before Thanksgiving, a team of lawyers with close ties to the Trump campaign began planning a sweeping new lawsuit to carry that argument. One of them, Kris Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state, had been a central player in some of the harshest recent moves to restrict voting, leading to frequent pushbacks in court. He had also helped lead Mr. Trump’s ‘election integrity’ commission, created after the president claimed he had lost the 2016 popular vote because of fraud; it had ended with litigation, internal strife and no evidence of fraud.” [New York Times, 1/31/21]
Kobach And The Group Of Lawyers Were “Confident” They Could Find An Attorney General That Would Be Willing To Challenge The Election Results Directly To The Supreme Court, Which Resulted In Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Leading The Lawsuit. According to the New York Times, “According to lawyers involved in the conversations, the group determined that the fast-approaching Electoral College vote did not leave time for a series of lawsuits to work their way through the courts. They would need to go directly to the Supreme Court, where, they believed, the conservative majority would be sympathetic to the president, who had appointed three of its members. The team quickly began working on a draft complaint. Only one type of lawyer can take a case filed by one state against another directly to the Supreme Court: a state attorney general. The president’s original election lawyers doubted that any attorney general would be willing to do so, according to one member of the team, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But Mr. Kobach and his colleagues were confident. After all, nine attorneys general were on the Trump campaign’s lawyers group, whose recruitment logo featured the president as Uncle Sam, saying: ‘I want you to join Lawyers for Trump. Help prevent voter fraud on Election Day.’ […] The obvious choice to bring the suit was Ken Paxton of Texas, an ardent proponent of the president’s voter-fraud narrative who had filed a number of lawsuits and legal memos challenging the pandemic-related expansion of mail-in voting.” [New York Times, 1/31/21]
¶ Kobach Claimed Texas’ Lawsuit Against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, And Wisconsin Over The 2020 Election Presented A “Clear” And “Compelling Case”
2020: Kobach Claimed Texas’ Lawsuit Against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, And Wisconsin Over The 2020 Election Presented A “Clear” And “Compelling Case,” Claiming The States Violated The Constitution When They Changed Election Rules. According to Kris Kobach’s opinion in Breitbart, “On Monday, just before midnight, the State of Texas filed a lawsuit that is far more important than all of the others surrounding the presidential election of November 3rd. Texas brought a suit against four states that did something they cannot do: they violated the U.S. Constitution in their conduct of the presidential election. And this violation occurred regardless of the amount of election fraud that may have resulted. The four defendant states are Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Texas filed the suit directly in the Supreme Court. Article III of the Constitution lists a small number of categories of cases in which the Supreme Court has ‘original jurisdiction.’ One of those categories concerns ‘Controversies between two or more states.’ Texas’s suit is exactly that. The Supreme Court has opined in the past that it may decline to accept such cases, at its discretion. But it is incumbent upon the high court to take this case, especially when it presents a such a cut-and-dried question of constitutional law, and when it could indirectly decide who is sworn in as President on January 20, 2021. The Texas suit is clear, and it presents a compelling case. The four offending states each violated the U.S. Constitution in two ways. First, they violated the Electors Clause of Article II of the Constitution when executive or judicial officials in the states changed the rules of the election without going through the state legislatures. The Electors Clause requires that each State ‘shall appoint’ its presidential electors ‘in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.’” [Kris Kobach Opinion – Breitbart, 12/7/20]
- Kobach Claimed The State Of Texas Did Not Need To Prove Voter Fraud To Win The Lawsuit, Arguing It Was “Enough That The Four States Violated The Constitution.” According to Kris Kobach’s opinion in Breitbart, “Importantly, the Texas lawsuit presents a pure question of law. It is not dependent upon disputed facts. Although these unconstitutional changes to the election rules could have facilitated voter fraud, the State of Texas doesn’t need to prove a single case of fraud to win. It is enough that the four states violated the Constitution. The lawsuit asks the Supreme Court to remand the appointment of electors in the four states back to the state legislatures. As the Supreme Court said in 1892 in the case of McPherson v. Blacker, ‘Whatever provisions may be made by statute, or by the state constitution, to choose electors by the people, there is no doubt of the right of the legislature to resume the power at any time…’.” [Kris Kobach Opinion – Breitbart, 12/7/20]
¶ Kobach Called For Eliminating Ballot Drop Boxes Despite A Lack Of Evidence Of Widespread Issues During The 2020 Election
¶ Kobach Called For Eliminating Ballot Drop Boxes Despite A Lack Of Voter Fraud Evidence And Kansas’ Republican Secretary Of State, Scott Schwab, Assuring Kansas’ Elections Were Secure And Drop Boxes Were Safe
2022: Kobach Called For Eliminating Ballot Drop Boxes Despite Evidence Expanded Drop Boxes During The 2020 Election Did Not Amount To Widespread Issues And Kansas’ Republican Secretary Of State, Scott Schwab, Assuring Kansas’ Elections Were Secure And Drop Boxes Were Safe. According to the Associated Press, “Kris Kobach, the Kansas Republican who helped lead Donald Trump’s short-lived presidential voter fraud commission, wants to rid his state of ballot drop boxes and says as he runs for attorney general that discounting talk of fraud is ‘ignoring reality.’ The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots in 2020 didn’t lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that could have affected the results. And Kobach’s position puts him at odds not only with Democrats and voting-right advocates, but Kansas’ Republican secretary of state, Scott Schwab, who says the state’s elections are secure and drop boxes are safe.” [Associated Press, 10/19/22]
- Kobach Claimed Drop Boxes Prevented Kansas From Enforcing A 2021 Law To Prevent “Ballot Harvesting.” According to the Associated Press, “Kobach, who was secretary of state for eight years before Schwab, said Wednesday that allowing drop boxes prevents Kansas from enforcing a 2021 law against what Republicans call ballot ‘harvesting,’ making it illegal for individuals to deliver ballots for more than 10 other people. Voting-rights advocates see the law as unnecessary for securing elections and contend it only hinders assistance to poor, minority and elderly voters.” [Associated Press, 10/19/22]
¶ Kobach Claimed Mail-In Voting Was The “Primary Avenue Of Voter Fraud” And Allowed “Ballot Harvesting”
2020: Kobach Claimed Mail-In Voting Was The “Primary Avenue Of Voter Fraud; From Ballot Harvesting, Intercepting Ballots, Or Falsely Requesting Someone Else’s Ballots.” According to Kris Kobach’s Facebook, “Mail-In Voting is the primary avenue of voter fraud; from ballot harvesting, intercepting ballots, or falsely requesting someone else’s ballots, it can be rife with issues. Now with Democrats trying to introduce Mandatory All Mail-Voting, this would open the flood gates to voter fraud.”
[Facebook, Kris Kobach, 7/6/20]
2020: Kobach Validated Trump’s Warnings Over The “Dangers Of Mail-In Voting” And Claimed Mail-Ballots Allowed For “Ballot Harvesting,” Double Voting Or Falsely Voting Under Another Person’s Ballot. According to Kris Kobach’s Twitter, “Democrats are calling for new federal law that would mandate all-mail balloting in all 50 states as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. Such a law would guarantee voter fraud on a scale never seen before; it should be opposed at all costs. 1/ @realDonaldTrump was absolutely right when he highlighted the dangers of mail-in voting last week. Compared to in-person voting with photo ID, the opportunities for voter fraud are much greater in mail-in voting. 2/ Three forms of fraud occur wherever mail-in voting is allowed. 1. Double voting. 2. Ballot harvesting. 3.Falsely voting another person’s ballot. I learned about these issues first-hand as Kansas Secretary of State. 3/ Even @SpeakerPelosi warned of the dangers of ballot harvesting in the aftermath of the 2018 Mark Harris v. Dan McCready race for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. 4/ The race was in question for months due to credible allegations that a contractor working for the Harris campaign had engaged in ballot harvesting. Because the victim of the fraud was the Democrat, Pelosi suddenly changed her tune on the subject. 5/ She warned then: ‘This is bigger than that 1 seat. This is about undermining the integrity of our elections.... What was done there was so remarkable, in that that person, those entities, got away with that.’ Now she seems to have forgotten her own words on the subject. 6/ There are steps state legislatures can take now to secure mail-in ballots like we did in KS. 1. Require virtual photo ID. 2. Require signature verification. 3. Deter harvesting by requiring the voter to sign envelope and authorize a person to deliver ballot on his behalf. 7/ It is essential that the other states enact these reforms to make mail-in ballots more secure. If all states were to take these 3 steps, the mail-in ballot fraud that President Trump rightly pointed out could be avoided. But the time to act is now. /End”
[Twitter, @KrisKobach1787, 4/8/20]