News & Commentary

A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas examines the effect county election officials can have on voter turnout and urges them to adopt policies that support democracy.

In the ACLU’s “All Democracy is (Still) Local” study, the organization finds that voters across Kansas have “wildly varied access to democracy across the state.”

“Kansas voters know what their needs are, and we’re at a new moment for this work in the state, with several critical organizations uniting to ensure Kansans can hold their elected officials accountable to honor the fundamental right to vote,” said Leslie Butsch, field director at the ACLU of Kansas.

The ACLU of Kansas recently released a poll that found 70% of Kansans want elected officials to focus on making it easier to vote, not harder. That included almost half — 47% — of Republicans. Allowing curbside voting at polling locations and increasing the number of polling locations in Kansas.

Republican Secretary of State Ron Thorburgh launched the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck; Kobach expanded the program. Kansas suspended the program in 2019 as part of a settlement with the ACLU of Kansas, which had sued on behalf of voters whose partial Social Security numbers were exposed.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas released a poll on voting rights Friday. The civil rights advocacy group found that 70% of Kansans support measures to make voting easier, rather than adding additional restrictions.

The ACLU of Kansas brought attention to a bill that proposes “proposes an old-fashioned literacy test, with a curriculum that includes the very Constitution bills like this one contradict, before individuals can exit probation, fully reenter community, or vote.”

Kansas ACLU policy director Aileen Berquist said runoff elections discouraged voter engagement and were based on discriminatory practices that began in the Jim Crow era to disenfranchise Black voters.

Organization wants to eliminate fees for children and legalize medical marijuana