KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Day after day, Kris W. Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, grilled people on the witness stand about voter fraud. From behind a courtroom lectern, he questioned the effectiveness of national election law. Sometimes he endured verbal lashings on proper legal procedure from the exasperated judge.
And Kansans watched and wondered: Should they make him their next governor?
Appearing as both defendant and lawyer, Mr. Kobach, a Republican who last year announced a run for governor, was at the center of a trial that concluded on Monday in the Robert J. Dole Federal Courthouse. A hard-liner on issues of illegal immigration and voting restrictions, he is fighting to preserve a voter registration law requiring Kansans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
