Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had no problem adopting Donald Trump’s “rigged election” claims, even as other Republicans have tried to spin away from them.
The ardent anti-immigration, pro-voting-restriction Trump supporter argued that non-citizens voting in Florida could swing the election, citing the close 500-or-so vote margin in the state in the 2000 presidential election.
“I think there’s no question that the number of aliens registered to vote in Florida is probably in the tens of thousands and the number voting is probably going to be in the thousands, so I think there’s a very real risk that a battleground state could be decided by non-citizens voting,” Kobach said, according to the Wichita Eagle.
As the Eagle noted, Florida’s secretary of state was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott (FL) — a Republican, and a Trump supporter at that.
Even before Trump began ginning up fears of voter fraud, which is extremely rare, many studies have found, Kobach had long pumped up the threat of non-citizens voting. His state’s law requiring that people registering to vote show a documentary proof of citizenship has been blocked by multiple courts.