Kansas agrees to $1.9M for attorneys who fought voting law

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas appears likely to pay $1.9 million to attorneys who succeeded in getting the federal courts to strike down a state proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters. The amount arose from negotiations between attorneys for the state and lawyers for Kansas residents who filed two federal lawsuits against a state law requiring people to provide citizenship documents when registering to vote. They jointly asked Friday for U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to sign off. The lawsuits successfully argued that the proof-of-citizenship requirement denied voting rights to thousands of citizens while doing little or nothing to stop fraud. The law was championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.