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The organizing to expand access to voting in Kansas is well underway. Local election officials have the authority to maximize opportunities to protect the right to vote and maximize turnout – but many don’t. While Election Commissioners and County Clerks in each county in our state have the power to change policies to make it easier to vote, many depend on the county commission to provide the resources to implement these policies. That’s why we’re ready to make it clear to county commissioners across the state: it’s time to support election officials who want to remove barriers and improve access for all eligible voters throughout the voting process.

In Shawnee County, we’re calling for expanded early voting. Currently, Shawnee is the only large county in Kansas with only one early vote location. We’re demanding more. Contact the Shawnee County Commission today and express your support for expanding early voting.

In Sedgwick County, we’re calling for mailing advanced ballot applications to every registered voter. The county stopped proactively sending all voters application forms to request an advance mail ballot ahead of upcoming elections in 2022–this led to a significant drop in voting by mail. We’re demanding this be the baseline. Contact the Sedgwick County Commission today and express your support for mailing advanced ballot applications to every registered voter. 

In Johnson County, we’re calling on Election Commissioner Fred Sherman to support implementing a vote from jail program and expanded language access. Contact Commissioner Sherman and express your support for vote from jail and language access.

In Wyandotte County, we’re calling on Election Commissioner Michael Abbott to support expanding early vote opportunities and language access. Contact Commissioner Abbott and express your support for early vote and language access.

Civil Liberties Beehive Leaders across the state are mobilizing their communities, informing strategy, and leading these campaigns for voting rights. Join them by attending our upcoming New Beehive Leader Orientation on Tuesday, September 12 at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

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• Read more about Represent! How we're expanding access to vote in several Kansas counties

One year ago today, on August 2nd, democracy and reproductive freedom won in Kansas—and won big.

The results came in for a historic election on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have eliminated the right to an abortion in Kansas, with the measure losing 59 to 41 percent. Kansans rejected this extreme attempt to undermine our bodily autonomy. We voted no and chose reproductive freedom instead.

In the months prior, all eyes were on Kansas—it would be the first time in the country that Americans would have a chance to respond to the US Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier that summer.

Kansas voters would have to overcome a lot:

• Lawmakers had placed the vote in the primary election, which usually excludes voters unaffiliated with a political party and consistently has lower turnout;
• There was not a presidential or other major national race on the ballot
• The language of the ballot proposal was also confusing, and at one point there were even misleading texts sent to voters about what a 'yes' vote would mean.

But a huge number of organizers, organizations, community groups, and people like you came together to keep voters informed and to urge them to show up to the polls.

Kansas voters turned out in record-breaking numbers to resoundingly VOTE NO on the amendment. It was a landslide victory demonstrating that as Kansans, we trusted each other to make the best decisions for ourselves and for our families—and that lawmakers needed to stay out of our deeply private and personal medical decisions.

By voting no, Kansans protected bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom, and the right to access an abortion during a chapter when those rights have been under attack more than ever, in Kansas and across the country.

August 2, 2022 showed us what's possible when community and democracy come together, and we want to remember that today. We know this fight isn't over, and that extremists will return again. But we also know that when we put the time in to make our voices heard and work together, we can pull off extraordinary things. Together we can build a state that better represents our values and helps us care for each other—and that's truly powerful.

Happy Vote No Victory Day, Kansas.

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• Read more about Looking back on August 2, 2022: what's possible when community and democracy come together

Although I may have have started my transition seven years ago, I have always been and will always be a woman. 

My name is Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. I’m a singer/songwriter I have a band called The Creepy Jingles and my pronouns are she/her. I am a proud transwoman and all those years ago I made a choice to no longer let my fear control me. I embraced all of myself and since my transition, I’ve developed stronger relationships and have been more successful in my career. My life shifted; I like who I am and I’ll be damned if I allow anyone to tell me who I am and try and put me back in a box that I’m too big to fit in.

They call us names. 

But we are known by many names. 

We show people the best of themselves. We show them the worst of themselves. Being transgender is living through many days consumed by the cognitive dissonance of what we saw in the mirror conflicting with our inner world—then liberating ourselves by being true to our hearts, minds, and souls. By taking ownership and autonomy for our bodies we have transcended boundaries and have now become those mirrors reflecting back on others and how they feel about themselves. 

We are resilient.

We are strong 

We are beautiful.

We are warriors.

We know what it feels like to keep getting knocked down but we also have that fire to dig deep and get up every single time better and stronger than before. All this pressure has us forged us into diamonds and it’s quite easy to allow our hearts to become as hardened in the face of those who hate us. Despite all of that we remain firm in our position to be authentic against all the opposition, oppression, misunderstanding, struggle and adversity.

I know things are scary and stressful right now but I want to remind everyone that anything that is worth having is worth fighting for.

We are not just fighting for ourselves. We have a job to fight for everyone that will come after us. It’s our generation’s responsibility to cut down the tall grass and make a safe and visible path for those kids to see. Thir generation can be spared of what we're enduring—and we endure so we can be free. Free to be who they are, free to love who they want openly and freely without persecution, free to not always fear for their freedom every election.

Trans kids should be able to play sports. They should get to have a childhood, free of the discrimination that forces them to grow up so fast. These children should not have to endure so much stress and negativity. All of us deserve a world where we don’t have to prove the validity of our identities. Our personal experiences should not be used against us as a weapon. 

I love all of you for being brave enough to love yourself. However, we have more work to do. No one can be complacent anymore—we don’t have the luxury.

Get involved in the community. Volunteer, phone bank, and continue to have those conversations with the people you think will never understand. Because you might be the difference in changing just one perspective. And even one perspective is one more person fighting alongside us for change. We must be better than our oppressors. We must lead by example to show what true humanity looks like. 

We have always been here.

And we exist whether they like it or not.

Despite the hardships we're facing, do not let your heart grow heavy. 

Live in joy to spite them. Be yourself to spite them. Succeed in spite of them.

Our most powerful resource is our voice. Use it. 

Sing. Dance. Make some art.

Let’s alchemize and transmute all this noise around us into gold. 

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• Read more about We are known by many names