Late yesterday afternoon, the Kansas Supreme Court dealt a blow to Kris Kobach–the worst secretary of state in the nation–by ruling that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Chad Taylor's name must be removed from the ballot.
Even though the court's decision was a strong rebuke of Kobach's hyper-partisan meddling, he's not giving up just yet:
Minutes after the Kansas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision overturning Kobach’s decision to keep Taylor on the ballot, Kobach declared the state’s Democratic Party must convene its state committee and choose another nominee by Sept. 26.
Last night, David Orel, who is a Democratic voter in the Kansas City area and a party to the suit wanting Taylor to stay on the ballot, filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing Kansas Democrats to name a new candidate. No coincidence that his son happens to be the
regional field director for Sam Brownback's re-election campaign.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert from the University of California, Irvine and the Election Law Blog doesn't think Democrats need to move quickly:
“If Democrats refuse to name or no candidate agrees to serve, then what? It seems like it would be a tough First Amendment claim to FORCE a party to name a replacement,” Hasen wrote in an analysis. “Perhaps if Democrats do nothing Kobach will realize there’s not much he can do and drop the issue.”
Nevertheless, Kris Kobach has announced a delay
in printing the ballots:
By giving the party another week to name a candidate, Kobach also pushed back the deadline for printing and mailing ballots to an estimated 526 Kansas voters who are civilians living overseas or military personnel stationed outside of Kansas. That includes 57 active-duty military personnel who are deployed overseas.
Because those ballots will be mailed out late, Kobach said, the deadline for returning the ballots will also be pushed back beyond Election Day, Nov. 4.
The non-military ballots were also supposed to head to the printer on Saturday, September 20, a deadline which has now been pushed back to Sept. 27.
And so, for now, the Kris Kobach circus continues. He's also in a tight re-election race, with recent polling showing him in a dead-heat with Daily Kos-endorsed Democratic challenger Jean Schodorf.
Can you contribute $5 to help elect Jean Schodorf and send the worst secretary of state in the nation to the unemployment line?
If you are in Kansas, check out the Daily Kos Community Meet-up + Voter Outreach & Registration taking place Sunday, September 21st.