BLOG

The ACLU of Kansas has worked alongside Kansans to protect our civil rights and civil liberties in every corner of the state.

From LGBTQ+ rights, students’ rights, the rights of those who are incarcerated, freedom of expression rights, every lawsuit or other advocacy effort we undertake is about more than just a single Kansan – the work we do can impact an entire community, our state, or even the country.

This map highlights just some of the ways the ACLU of Kansas has taken action in the past decade - learn more by hovering over each county.

Allen
Open Records Request to Allen County Sheriff

Atchinson
After Aclu Intervention, Atchison Clerk Reverses Decision; Registrations Now Will Be Accepted Up to July 12

Butler
Warden Snyder Re: El Dorado Correctional Facility and Alleged Religious Discrimination

Crawford
To: Girard Usd 248 Re: Hair Length Policy

Douglas
Moore v. Schwab
Marie v. Mosier
Kansas inmates wait in jail for months for mental health treatment. That might change

Ellis
Shaw v. Jones
Hundreds in Ellis County Sign Petition for Polling Location at FHSU

Finney
Garden City CC National Anthem Incident

Ford
LULAC and Rangel-Lopez v. Cox
Coca and Rangel-Lopez v. City of Dodge City

Franklin
Letter to Franklin County Clerk Regarding Federal Form Voter Registrants

Jefferson
McLouth High School re: Denial of Gay-Straight Alliance Club

Johnson
Fish v. Kobach
Gardner Edgerton USD 231 School Board RE: Name, Pronoun, and Facilities Policy
Amicus: State v. Garrett

Leavenworth
To City of Leavenworth re: proposed homelessness ban
Leavenworth County Jail re: Mental Health Access
Hadley Et Al. V. Zmuda Et Al

Lyon
North Lyon County USD 251 Title IX Violations

Marshall
City of Blue Rapids RE 1st Amendment Prosecution

Osage
To Osage County Jail: Violations of Attorney-Client Privilege

Pawnee
Glendening Et Al. V. Howard Et Al. [KDADS – Larned State Hospital]

Pottawatomie
St Marys City Commission Re: Threatened Adverse Actions Against the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library

Reno
Letter to Reno County Sheriff's Department Regarding Privileged Mail Policy

Riley
Cole Et Al v. Goossen

Sedgwick
Zanial v. SBEA
Progeny Et Al v. City of Wichita Et Al
Maize Voters Incorrectly Turned Away From Polls; Contact Election Protection Hotline

Shawnee
Brown v. Kobach
Loud Light & Hammet v. Schwab
Letter to UberEats Re: Displayed Name Policy and Risks to Transgender Drivers

Wilson
Ogden v. Figgins

Wyandotte
Alonzo et al. v. Schwab
To Wyandotte Co. Election Commissioner Michael Abbott Re: Language Access

Date

Featured image

Show featured image

Hide banner image

Show related content

Tweet Text

Type

Menu parent dynamic listing

Show PDF in viewer on page

Style

Show list numbers

Author

• Read more about Mapping Our Work: A Decade of Civil Liberties Across Kansas

Any kind of injustice bothers Faith Martin.

Whether it is a mom yelling at a brother for what a sister did, or someone being harassed by police, or people losing their reproductive rights, she can’t seem to sit still. She says that she has to get involved.

The injustice that has really kept her moving has been helping the formerly incarcerated get their voting rights reinstated. Here, she says, there’s almost too much to do, but the work is not just doable, it’s important.

So, she’s emerged in the Wichita community as a person to whom people can turn with myriad questions, including how to get your voting rights restored.

“When systems break down, people are a part of those systems and they can become collateral damage,” said Martin, the volunteer vice chair of the Wichita Racial Profiling Board. “We need to keep people engaged.”

Here in Kansas, when people are convicted of a felony, they lose their right to vote – this is called felony disenfranchisement. However, many people don’t realize that once they complete their sentence, they can vote.

Right now, there are as many as 30,000 Kansans with past felony convictions who are eligible to vote, but don’t know it.

So, we need a lot of Faiths.

She doesn’t do anything astonishing, she said in her own, self-effacing way. She says she’s good at finding information other people have difficulty finding for themselves and the more she has helped people, the more she’s made a name for herself as a go-to, do-gooder.

Kansas’s partial felony disenfranchisement does more than prevent Kansans from voting during their sentence – even after they become eligible again, it creates confusion, obstacles to voting, and discourages them from persisting even if denied incorrectly. Some community members have reported that when registering to vote with their local election offices after becoming eligible, they were initially denied based on outdated court records.

Martin said people don’t need a ton of paperwork, most of the information isn’t hard to find, and most people don’t realize that much of this can be accomplished in a short moment on a smart phone.

However, people trying to leave the felony and the incident that earned them that felony behind them on their way to a new life, can find adjusting to their new lives frightening or overwhelming. That’s where she often steps in to help.

She says it has become an important outlet for her own need for civic engagement. Sometimes, she said, people think their inability to vote, or their being profiled by police are political issues when they may have more to do with a general lack of civic engagement.

System-impacted people have tons to contribute. They have first-had experience with all sorts of state of issues and thus could offer vital insights into how best to manage our state’s affairs.

Participation strengthens our democracy, and she’s become an advocate for restoring rights after incarceration.

It has become work she enjoys, and, it’s no bother at all.

Date

Featured image

Show featured image

Hide banner image

Show related content

Tweet Text

Type

Menu parent dynamic listing

Show PDF in viewer on page

Style

Show list numbers

• Read more about She has faith in restoring people’s voting rights

In recent years, people have been talking a lot about cash bail and how it affects folks who don't have a lot of money or who are from communities that face discrimination, and the cash bail system that we see across the U.S. has come under scrutiny. Cash bail imposes economic hardship on marginalized communities, disrupts entire communities, and has overwhelming impacts on communities of color. Let's break it down and see why it's such a big deal.

Not being able to afford to pay bail has huge impacts on every aspect of life. Think about it… if you are living paycheck to paycheck and have to come up with money for bail, you might have to sacrifice paying for things like groceries or utilities in order to pay rent and keep a roof over your head. If you can’t afford to pay bail, you end up stuck behind bars and away from your job. This increases your chances of losing that job and the ripple effects just continue to spread. If you have kids, you have to find someone in your family or community to watch over them while you’re in pretrial detention. This adds stress on families and support communities, and this impacts Black and Hispanic folks especially hard, making the inequality gap even wider.

We have other options without cash bail being the only answer:

• Get out without bail: You promise to show up in court, and they let you go.
• Fair assessments: They look at your situation, not just your bank account, to decide what to do.
• Resource help: Programs help you deal with your issues and make sure you show up for court.

A lot of people that do not support cash bail argue that pretrial incarceration lowers homicide rates. This narrative is false, and most places in the U.S. that have the highest homicide rates still utilize cash bail. There is no connection between cash bail and lowering homicide rates. Instead of making things even harder for impacted and marginalized communities, we should be investing in these communities. Research shows that local investment in communities that need it the most does have an impact that lowers homicide rates. Cash bail does not make significant profits for states that still follow cash bail practices, but investing in communities that need local investment the most has shown to have positive impacts on lowering homicide and crime rates.

In Kansas, most people agree that cash bail needs fixing - nearly 70% of Kansans! A bunch of folks from all different backgrounds support changes to the system. It doesn’t matter what county you are from, it doesn’t matter if you’re in rural Kansas, metro areas, or suburbs – because this affects us all. Fixing cash bail isn't just about money – it's about making things right and treating everyone equally. It’s about trust, fairness, and making sure everyone gets treated the same, no matter how much money they have in the bank. It's a step toward justice for all.

Date

Featured image

Show featured image

Hide banner image

Related issues

Show related content

Pinned related content

Tweet Text

Type

Menu parent dynamic listing

Show PDF in viewer on page

Style

Show list numbers

Author

• Read more about The Impacts of Cash Bail: How it Harms Poor Individuals, People of Color, and Undermines Civil Rights