News & Commentary

The ballot box is a powerful tool: it amplifies our voices, holds the powerful accountable, and induces change in our society. Every person legally able to vote should be able to cast a ballot. That’s why a change is necessary in Hays.

“Voting is a right that we have. It wasn’t too long ago they made this a constitutional amendment so women and other minorities were able to vote,” said Phillips. “It’s our responsibility to exercise this right and to make it count for us, because we matter."

As elections draw near, it’s more important than ever that all American citizens have the same opportunity to vote. But in Wyandotte County, it seems as if the election commissioner doesn’t think similarly.

A federal judge has ruled Dodge City’s five-decade-old election system does not unfairly suppress Latino voter choices and can remain in place, rejecting arguments from the American Civil Liberties Union and others.

"We are currently exploring next steps in this case and will continue to work for a truly representative democracy that ensures Latine voters can have their voices heard," a legal team of ACLU of Kansas, ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, Cleary-Gottlieb, and the UCLA Voting Rights Project said.

Cindy Phillips, originally from Mexico City, became a U.S. citizen in December and registered to vote the very same day. She said systemic corruption in Mexican politics, including the murders of candidates and voters, make it dangerous to participate in democracy there.

ACLU of Kansas executive director on claims of non-citizens voting: ‘They were a lie then, and they’re a lie now.’

“One would hope that folks would follow the example and figure out the natural conclusion of this which is that it is not legally tenable, it is not popular, it is not based on reality,” ACLU of Kansas director Micah Kubic said.

On Tuesday, Madison Albers, a student at Fort Hays State and co-chair of the American Democracy Project, along with others involved in the polling place effort, delivered 480 signatures in support of the change to Ellis County Clerk Bobbi Dreiling.