In a closely divided 4-3 ruling about a measure requiring the matching of signatures on mail-in ballots to a voter’s registration record, in which the state Supreme Court had reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit against that measure, Justice Caleb Stegall (writing for the majority) rejected arguments from voting rights groups that the measure violated state constitutional voting rights. But instead of leaving well enough alone, Justice Stegall went on to state the quiet part out loud — holding that the court had not identified a “fundamental right to vote” within the state constitution!
From the AP story on this disturbing ruling:
Justice Eric Rosen, one of the three who dissented, shot back: “It staggers my imagination to conclude Kansas citizens have no fundamental right to vote under their state constitution.”
"I cannot and will not condone this betrayal of our constitutional duty to safeguard the foundational rights of Kansans,” Rosen added.
I hate to think how many members of our current SCOTUS would likely agree with the proposition that Americans have no fundamental right to vote within our Constitution either, particularly with their propensity to keep gutting ever more of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.