Opinion
Lawrence Journal-World l LJWorld.com l Wednesday, November 12, 2014
EDITORIALS
Voting battle The election is over, but Kansas still is fighting another kind of voting battle.
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ust days after the general election, Kansas is back in court defending its requirement that Kansans provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and its plan to circumvent federal laws by conducting two-tiered election. In the meantime, more than 20,000 Kansas voter registrations are being held “in suspense” at the Kansas Secretary of State’s office because they are incomplete — most of them because they lack citizenship documentation. Regardless of how the legal cases are settled, the state must address the problems that have left those would-be voters in limbo. Kansans currently can register to vote using either a state form or a federal form, but Secretary of State Kris Kobach has determined that because the federal form doesn’t require citizenship proof, voters who use it have not complied with state law and can vote in federal, but not state and local elections. Kobach asked the courts to force the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to add a citizenship requirement to federal voter registration forms used in Kansas, but, on Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down that request. Kobach has said his goal is to fight voter fraud. Only a small number of Kansas voters have registered with the federal form, but the ruling could have a broader impact because it opens the door to another case, in Shawnee County, that could be the beginning of the end for the Kansas proof of citizenship law. That case challenges the legality of a dual election system — one for those registering with the federal form and one for those registering with the state form. If the dual election system is thrown out, all voters could simply bypass the state’s proof of citizenship requirement by registering with the federal form, which requires only that voters sign a statement confirming they are citizens. It’s uncertain at this point whether the state’s system of dual elections will stand up to legal scrutiny, but, in case it does, Kansas officials should be looking now at ways to streamline the state’s voter registration system to avoid the kind of “in suspense” backlog that currently exists. A major problem with the system is a breakdown in communication between the Department of Revenue, which operates state drivers license offices, and the secretary of state’s office. When legislators approved the proof of citizenship law, they were promised that it would be an easy matter for Kansans to present citizenship documents and register to vote when they obtained a drivers license. The idea was that those documents would be transferred automatically to the Secretary of State to complete the voter’s registration. However, that hasn’t happened. First, there were problems with the computer system. Then there was the Department of Revenue’s decision to quit collecting documentation about citizenship or legal residency as part of the drivers license process. Kobach maintains that the proof-ofcitizenship law is important to reduce the potential for voter fraud in Kansas. Ensuring the integrity of Kansas elections is important, but this system is not what legislators were promised. If the state’s proof-of-citizenship law is allowed to stand, the state has a responsibility to provide an easier avenue to meet that requirement. Acquiring a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship can be inconvenient and expensive for some would-be voters. The least the state can do is make sure people who meet that requirement don’t face additional registration obstacles. LAWRENCE
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Bankruptcy laws can stifle innovation Washington — Chile has just taken a bold step to promote innovation that should be copied by all other Latin American countries. In order to encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses and not be paralyzed by the fear of failure, it has put into effect a new bankruptcy law that eliminates many of the burdens of insolvency. It may seem like unexciting news, but in Latin America — where draconian bankruptcy laws often turn business people who file for bankruptcy into economic and social pariahs — the repeal of draconian bankruptcy laws could be a major step to spur innovation and economic development. Judging from what I learned over the past four years, while I was doing research for a just-published book on innovation in Latin America, ruthless bankruptcy laws are among the biggest obstacles to entrepreneurship and innovation in the region. Potential entrepreneurs and investors are often deterred from starting new ventures not only because of the social stigma associated with failure, but because people who face situations of temporary distress and file for bankruptcy cannot go back into business for many years. A new study from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, titled “Doing Business
Andres Oppenheimer aoppenheimer@miamiherald.com
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It may seem like unexciting news, but in Latin America … the repeal of draconian bankruptcy laws could be a major step to spur innovation and economic development.” 2015,” contains amazing data on how long it takes for someone who goes bankrupt in Latin America to finalize bankruptcy issues, so as to reorganize their business or start a new one. While in some of the world’s most innovative countries — such as the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Singapore — it takes an average of six to 18 months to resolve bankruptcy-related issues, in most Latin American countries, it takes between three and 5.3 years, the study shows.
In Argentina, it takes 2.8 years to resolve insolvency problems; in Costa Rica, three years; in Peru, 3.1 years; in Chile, 3.2 years; in Brazil and Venezuela, four years; and in Ecuador, 5.3 years, the World Bank study shows. Some of the few exceptions in the region are Colombia, where it takes 1.7 years, and Mexico and Uruguay, where it takes 1.8 years. In addition, the court and legal fees for going through an insolvency process in Latin America are higher than in most other parts of the world, the report says. Rita Ramalho, the lead author of the “Doing Business 2015” report, told me that years of red tape and high legal costs not only inhibit potential entrepreneurs from starting new businesses but also keeps potential investors from bankrolling new companies. Enacting less punitive bankruptcy laws in cases where there is no fraud would make the system more dynamic. “It’s good to allow a system that allows trial and error, because trial and error are essential to innovation,” she said. Indeed, most big inventions come after a chain of failures. As Richard Branson, the billionaire Virgin Records founder whose latest Virgin Galactic prototype space tourism rocket crashed Oct. 31 in the Mojave desert, told
me in an interview last year: “If you don’t fail, you can’t get anything done.” It has always been like that. Thomas Alva Edison’s biographers say it took him more than 1,000 failed attempts before he perfected his electric bulb. Orville and Wilbur Wright, the pioneers of today’s air travel, are said to have crashed 163 times shortly after takeoff before they made their first successful flight in 1903. Virtually all innovation gurus I have talked to agree that if these and other innovators lived in countries where failure carries big punishments, they may have never pursued their goals. My opinion: Fear of failure — and of the legal consequences thereof — is one of the biggest obstacles to innovation in Latin America, alongside the absence of a culture of admiration for business entrepreneurs and innovators. When a baby falls while trying to take his first steps, nobody calls it a failure. We all smile and applaud. Likewise, countries should be much more forgiving with those who fail in their attempts to get a business going. They should make their bankruptcy laws more tolerant with non-fraudulent failure, like Chile has just done. — Andres Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald.
OLD HOME TOWN
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Kobach power shift not justified Coming off his election victory, Secretary of State Kris Kobach is again asking the Legislature to give him authority to enforce election fraud laws in conjunction with the Kansas attorney general. This is a proposal he has unsuccessfully floated before, and it seems likely that, having won another term in office, he believes that he may win a second time around. The power he is asking for would be a radical change. Enforcement of voter fraud currently lies with county prosecutors. In fact, in his prior attempt to acquire this enforcement power, he was opposed by Kansas county prosecutors. Kobach has made voter fraud his only issue. He spearheaded the movement to convince the Kansas Legislature to adopt voter identification laws although there was little evidence that they were actually needed. In addition, he has assisted a number of states other than Kansas in developing voter fraud and photo ID laws while he has been serving as Kansas secretary of state, activities that some, at least, question as inappropriate for a senior member of our state government. His attempts to convince the Legislature that it should now take enforcement powers away from county prosecutors and vest them in
Mike Hoeflich
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If Kobach wants the Legislature to take power away from prosecutors and give it to him, he needs to prove that prosecutors have failed to do their job adequately. Where is that proof?” the secretary of state and the attorney general seem to be part of his plan to use the issue of voter fraud as a means of acquiring more power, power that has never been given to the secretary of state. In my opinion, it would be a serious error for the Legislature to give Kobach the increased powers he is lobbying for. First, so far as I know, Kobach has not made a strong case for the change. He says that local prosecutors have not been enforcing voter fraud laws. What proof has he that this is true? The fact
that local prosecutors have not brought a large number of prosecutions of voter fraud is, by no means, solely explicable by their lack of zeal. An equally plausible explanation is that there simply haven’t been that many cases of voter fraud in the state. If Kobach wants the Legislature to take power away from prosecutors and give it to him, he needs to prove that prosecutors have failed to do their job adequately. Where is that proof? Further, as a policy matter, is it really wise to centralize this power in Topeka? Is the secretary of state in a better position to monitor voter fraud in 105 counties than those counties’ prosecutors? I, for one, doubt that is the case. There is no question that Kobach won his election race. Whether his victory constitutes a mandate for his policies, let alone lends support for the expanded powers he now seeks is much more questionable. I would hope that the Legislature acts wisely and seeks strong evidence of the need for such a change before it makes such a radical change, a change that seems mainly to benefit Kobach. —Mike Hoeflich, a distinguished professor in the Kansas University School of Law, writes a regular column for the Journal-World.
From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Nov. 12, 1914: years “What will hapago pen to Nebraska IN 1914 day after tomorrow? Nebraska has beaten K. U. 12 times and Kansas has beaten her 8 times. For the last four years the long end of the score has gone to the Cornhuskers. Will it go this time? Not if Coach Wheaton’s day and night practice counts for anything. If ever a team was primed in strategy for a hard game against a heavy eleven, the 1914 Kansas team will be. Every night the men are going through light scrimmage against Nebraska formations from 4 o’clock until dark. Then they come back on the hill and work out two hours more in the gym on signal practice…. Four hundred tickets for the Nebraska game came to Manager Hamilton yesterday and will be on sale until the day of the game. Two hundred of them are in front of the 50-yard line and the remainder on the 20-yard line. The round trip fare is $7.50 and the train will leave late Friday night and return Sunday noon…. More will stay in Lawrence probably than will go to Nebraska, but they, too, can see the game if they wish, without paying a cent. The JournalWorld will reproduce the game in miniature in front of the office at 722 Massachusetts street Saturday afternoon. A special reporter on the field will send in each play as it occurs on the Nebraska field and the ball will move back and forth across the gridiron in front of the JournalWorld office just as it does at Nebraska.” “In an effort to check the rapid spread of tuberculosis in Lawrence, Mrs. J. A. Hamlin has been appointed a tuberculosis nurse by the Social Service League. An experienced nurse will be brought down from Topeka to direct her in the work for a week or two.” — Compiled by Sarah St. John
Read more Old Home Town at LJWorld.com/news/lawrence/ history/old_home_town.
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