After a 2021 legislative session packed with election proposals, Kansas officials and advocacy groups again are looking at both election integrity and accessibility issues.
In more than nine years serving as election commissioner for Sedgwick County, Tabitha Lehman said, she saw several instances of policymakers acknowledging election policies they support could suppress the vote of some marginalized Kansans to benefit their party.
Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector
The administration of Gov. Laura Kelly reached agreement with a coalition of civil rights organizations to provide additional voter registration information to people on public assistance and bring the state into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act.
A Shawnee County judge Thursday allowed Kansas to continue enforcing a controversial election law, rejecting arguments it will inhibit voter registration and education efforts.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
Voting rights attorneys battled Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court over the merits of a new law that threatens felony prosecution for any activities that could be mistaken as the work of an election official.
Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service
Voter registration drives in Kansas have slowed to a trickle while a new election law is challenged in court, but Republicans are undeterred.
Douglas County Democrats
Weeks after announcing her office would not prosecute violations of a new Kansas law that criminalizes giving the appearance of an election worker, Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez on Saturday will join a panel of election experts to discuss the state’s voter laws.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt reinforced Monday that his office would, in fact, prosecute a law that caused activist groups to cease voter registration drives for fear of felony charges — including in Douglas County, where District Attorney Suzanne Valdez said her office would not enforce the law.
Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez said Tuesday that she won’t prosecute anyone under a new state law that caused nonprofits to halt voter registration efforts at the start of July, but the groups won’t immediately resume engaging with voters.
Mackenzie Clark / The Lawrence Times
Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez announced Tuesday that she would not prosecute violations of a newly effective law in the state of Kansas that makes it a felony for individuals to engage in conduct that would make a person think they are an elections worker.
