A federal judge has ordered Kansas to pay more than $1.4 million in attorney fees and expenses after the courts struck down a state law pushed by former Secretary of State Kris Kobach that required people to prove their citizenship to register to vote.
The agreement caps off a five-year legal battle over a law championed by Kobach that required Kansas residents to show either their birth certificate or passport when registering to vote. A federal judge ruled against the law in 2018 and the Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuits argued that the law’s proof-of-citizenship requirement led to thousands of eligible voters being barred from participating in elections, because they lacked the proper documentation.
