On June 10, two judges of the 10th circuit refused a request by the Kansas Secretary of State to stay a ruling of the U.S. District Court from May 17, 2016. The U.S. District Court had ruled last month that Kansas must register applicants at the Department of Motor Vehicles who signed under penalty of perjury that they are citizens, but who didn’t provide documents proving citizenship.
The Secretary of State had asked for a stay of the May ruling, but the 10th circuit refused a stay. The 10th circuit also expedited the state’s appeal. There were already 18,000 applications to register to vote that had not been processed, and it is estimated that there will be tens of thousands of additional applications during the next few months. The state had argued for a stay on the grounds that it would be a heavy burden to process all these voter registration applications.
The U.S. District Court who had issued the opinion is Julie Robinson, an appointee of George W. Bush. The two 10th circuit appeals judges who refused to disturb her ruling are Mary Briscoe, a Clinton appointee, and Jerome Holmes, another Bush Jr. appointee.
The voters who registered at the Motor Vehicles Department used the federal form, so they can only vote for federal office. Other litigation, on whether such voters must be allowed to vote in state and local elections, is pending.