Kansas Senate committee changes bill to move local elections to fall

A bill to move local elections to the fall advanced out of a Kansas Senate committee Thursday, but not before it was changed significantly.

SB 171 would have originally moved local elections for city councils and school boards to the fall on even-numbered years and made them partisan.

The version of the bill that was passed out of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee was amended to keep local races nonpartisan and keep them in odd-numbered years. The bill would move local elections from April to November.

Proponents of changing the date of local elections say that would increase voter turnout.

This story was originally published February 19, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Kansas Senate committee changes bill to move local elections to fall."