On Friday, Republican officials in the State of Kansas revealed they are considering removing President Obama from November's presidential ballot.
The reason?
The Kansas State Objections Board is considering removing President Barack Obama from the November ballot because of doubts over his place of birth, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The panel of Republicans, which consists of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, received a complaint from a resident who claimed Obama was not a natural born citizen and therefore ineligible to be president.
Joe Montgomery, who filed the ballot challenge that is now being pursued by Kansas, said, "there is substantial evidence showing that much of Mr. Obama’s alleged birth certificates have been forged or doctored, and have not been confirmed as legally valid, true and accurate.”
In response, White House press secretary Jay Carney told Jake Tapper, who broached the topic at an afternoon presser:
There is substantial evidence that the State of Kansas itself is forged or doctored.
Just look at the borders: the state's almost perfectly rectangular right smack in the middle of the country. It's almost as if those lines have been completely made up.
And the name. Kansas? Isn't there already an Arkansas? Doesn't sound true and accurate to me.
The White House also released a statement indicating that the Justice Department is now looking into whether or not Kansas has defrauded the United States all these years.
"If we find that Kansas was not actually born in the U.S., and is not actually an original member state but a fraud, we will be forced to remove it from the electoral college," the statement read.
Officials are waiting for Kansas to prove its membership by delivering to the White House verified copies of its original constitution, as well as proof that the rock band Kansas was named after the state, and not after the Kansa Native American tribe (which formerly inhabited the area).
So far, Kansas officials have yet to produce the required documents.
"We'll see what happens," Vice President Joe Biden, who submitted the petition questioning Kansas's legality, told ABC News. "Me? I'm not holding my breath."
Author's Note:
This post was inspired by a Tweet from Nick Kristof of The New York Times.