To the editor:

If the Kansas Legislature approves Kris Kobach’s efforts to make new voter registration requirements effective in this year’s elections, chalk up another victory for those who want to minimize the influence racial minorities have in our political system.

Making it harder to register to vote and to cast ballots is supposed to deal with a problem in Kansas of fraudulent voting. But no one has provided evidence that voter fraud is a problem.  And there’s no potential problem, since our election laws work very well. So why does Mr. Kobach have concerns about Kansas elections?

His concerns could be related to his work in drafting and supporting anti-immigration laws in Arizona, Alabama and elsewhere. Kobach has worked with an organization, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which is associated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. This latter group has for many years promoted fears that nonwhite immigration threatens the supremacy of our traditional European-American society. Promoting anti-immigration legislation is one way to cope with such fears. Restrictive voting laws are another way to cope with such fears about those nonwhite immigrants already here.