News & Commentary

Federal Department of Justice observers will monitor polling places in Johnson County on Tuesday, Election Day, as part of a historic expansion of its monitoring efforts that includes three of the most populous areas of Kansas. The department announced monitors will be in Wyandotte and Sedgwick counties as well as Johnson County.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kansas have challenged SB 244 in Douglas County District Court, arguing that the law violates constitutional protections. A hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction was scheduled to begin Sept. 29. The latest publicly available case information reviewed for this story did not establish the outcome of that hearing.

“Rather than strengthening democracy, [the amendments are] a political maneuver designed to justify future rollbacks of voting rights,” said Rashane Hamby with the ACLU of Kansas in testimony last year.

Opponents, like the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, say it’s already law that only citizens can vote, and passing this amendment could open the floodgates to problematic voting restrictions. Rashane Hamby, director of policy and research for the ACLU of Kansas, said “the language in (the amendment) could be weaponized to justify a return to restrictive voter registration laws, as it explicitly conditions voter eligibility on U.S. citizenship, despite no evidence of noncitizen voting.” Amii Castle, a law professor at the University of Kansas, worries it could open the gates for legislators to try the law that required registering voters to prove their citizenship again. That law was struck down by a federal judge.

Logan DeMond, director of policy and research for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, in an Oct. 19 letter to the city council, opposed passage of the Halo Act into Prairie Village City Code. In that letter, which is effectively identical to opposition letters DeMond wrote to the cities of Overland Park and Olathe, the ACLU of Kansas identifies challenges to laws similar to Kansas’ Halo Act in Indiana, Louisiana and Arizona. “Prairie Village should not expand enforcement authority by adopting an unnecessary, duplicative and arbitrary law that raises significant concerns regarding civil liberties, enforcement, and due process, and exposes the city to unnecessary legal risk,” DeMond said in the Oct. 19 letter. The duplication DeMond mentioned in the letter refers to how the Halo Act is a state law that is being folded into the UPOC for adoption on a city-by-city basis.

The ACLU of Kansas will run a statewide, nonpartisan voter assistance hotline that can be reached at 866-687-8683. The hotline is also available in multiple languages:

The ACLU is looking at Kansas as one of the closest watched states this election cycle. “This year, we are keeping our eye on places like Iowa, Kansas, California and Maine,” said Deirdre Schifeling with the ACLU.

Even though Prairie Village rejected adopting a state law requiring a 25-foot buffer from first responders and law enforcement, officers can still invoke it in the city. Here’s where other cities in the county stand.

“We have definitely stepped up our election protection work and have the largest, most robust program we’ve ever had — covering more polling places with more volunteers and prepared for more scenarios,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas. “We are still recruiting, so I wouldn’t want to commit to numbers yet — but in August, we doubled the size of the program over prior years and anticipate doing the same for November.”