Which brings us to Brian Newby, the recently departed leader of the Johnson County Election Office.
Late last year he accepted the job as the executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a nonpartisan office that’s supposed to help make voting more accessible and promote good election practices throughout the country. Shortly after taking that work, Newby abruptly decided that people in Kansas, Alabama and Georgia could not register to vote by using a national form — one that doesn’t require providing proof of U.S. citizenship.

Just who helped Newby get his new gig?
The Associated Press laid out that troublesome scenario late this week, using emails gathered through open records requests plus other sources.
Kobach said in an interview that he had told one of Newby’s potential Republican bosses on the commission that he “would be excellent and he was one of Kansas’ most talented county election officers....”

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Take a look at the email Newby sent in June to Kobach: “I think I would enter the job empowered to lead the way I want to.”
And there was this communication from Newby to the Kansas secretary of state: “I wanted you in the loop, in part because of other issues in the past with the (Election Assistance Commission). I also don’t want you thinking that you can’t count on me in an upcoming period that will tax our resources.”
Then, bingo, early this year came the restrictive decision by Newby.
In retrospect, the close ties between the two men make it appear that Newby went to Washington and decided to impose some ugly Kobach-style restrictions that could affect the voting rights of thousands of Americans.