TOPEKA — Kansas civic groups are resuming voter registration efforts after a three-year-pause due to a law that made it a felony to “represent oneself as an election official.”
A case filed by civic groups including Loud Light and the League of Women Voters led to a district judge blocking enforcement of the law July 29. The groups argued that the false representation provision put civic organizations at risk because they often provide information and assist with voter registration. They feared such activities could have been construed as representing their members as election officials.
The League of Women Voters resumed voter registration efforts in 2022. But Loud Light, a civic group focused on young voters and other civic groups did not resume until the decision last month.
“We are fired up and ready to register thousands of young Kansans to vote again,” said Loud Light president Davis Hammet. “For 1,125 days, Kansas’s democracy suffered irreparable harm under the Legislature’s most recent voter registration suppression scheme. If the youth vote didn’t matter, the Kansas Legislature wouldn’t be working so hard to block young Kansans from registering to vote.”
According to a study by Tufts University, young voters are the most diverse group in U.S. history. But while young voter turnout has been increasing, the group historically has the lowest voter participation of any age demographic.
“We do know that if a young person isn’t registered to vote early in their adulthood, they are far less likely to vote for the rest of their life,” said Loud Light advocacy director Melissa Stiehler. “This means that any amount of missed opportunity to get young people civically engaged is very difficult to resolve, and the harm is irreparable.”
Young people, especially those of college-age, move frequently. Many are confused about how to register to vote, especially when they’re not in their home state.
According to a news media release from Loud Light, before the law took effect, Loud Light had registered 10,000 voters in advance of the 2020 election. There was a record number of voters in Kansas that year. Since then, Stiehler said, the group’s base of volunteers, supporters and fellows has “grown extensively.”
This law, Senate substitute for House Bill 2183, was part of a national wave of voter suppression bills passed after the 2020 election. The suppression movement was evident in the most recent Kansas legislative session, too, with proposals such ase limiting advanced voting and adding further verification for mail-in ballots.
District Judge Teresa Watson issued a temporary injunction that restrains and prohibits enforcing the false representation provision. A final decision will be made at trial, where the judge will look at the evidence.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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