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Last month, the board heard from dozens of students, parents and community members about the proposed policy. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas also sent the school district multiple letters, highlighting concerns about how the proposed policy may put students at risk.

Resources from the ACLU of Kansas, including voting with a criminal record, were shared in a voters guide from the Lawrence Times.

Several voting-rights advocacy groups, including the ACLU, filed lawsuits on behalf of Wyandotte County and Lawrence residents concerning the new map; ultimately the Kansas Supreme Court upheld the map. Kubic said communities of color were now feeling the effects of that decision.

Kansans United for Civil Liberties, which is supported by the ACLU but formed as a separate entity, is focused on issues of reproductive freedom and voting rights. Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, said the PAC would focus on state legislature races this election cycle.

“Democracy isn’t just about voting rights, pulling a lever for your candidate. It’s the idea that everyone matters, that we’re in it together,” said Micah Kubic of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

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D.C. Hiegert, an American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas legal fellow focusing on LGBTQ issues, and Brenan Riffel, a Kansas Reflector columnist and University of Kansas graduate student, talk with opinion editor Clay Wirestone and reporter Rachel Mipro about the harm this is causing.

“The ACLU is hopeful Ms. Garrett will have her constitutional rights vindicated in the lower court, and that her criminal judge will recognize that continuing Ms. Garrett on state supervision indefinitely due to her poverty serves no legitimate community interest,” Legal Director Sharon Brett wrote.