Voter engagement groups say new Kansas election law improperly bars their work
National civic engagement groups told a federal judge in Kansas Wednesday that they would be unable to operate in the state under new election laws that go into effect on Jan. 1.
Executives at Vote America and the Voter Participation Center testified in an evidentiary hearing that one of their primary functions, sending advance ballot applications to registered voters, would not be possible in Kansas if a law barring such activity by out-of-state organizations went into effect.
“We may be prohibited from helping voters in Kansas at all,” said Daniel McCarthy, Vice President of Finance and Operations at VoteAmerica.
The organizations, which sued in June to block the law from being enforced, have asked for a preliminary injunction to keep the measure from going into effect until litigation has concluded.
The lawsuit was filed weeks after state lawmakers approved two packages of new election laws, part of a nationwide push by Republicans to tighten ballot access following unfounded claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
The organizations alleged that the laws restricting advance ballot applications violate free speech and equal protection guarantees as well as the Commerce Clause of the U.S. constitution by preventing distribution of the materials,
The laws, and other election measures passed by legislators this year, are also being challenged by state groups in Shawnee County district court.
VoteAmerica allows voters across the country to enter information online and print an advance ballot for their state or have it mailed to them already filled out. The Voter Participation Center sends completed advance ballot applications to target voters ahead of elections.
Though both groups have other engagement strategies, each called the ballot applications their most effective means of encouraging voting among lower income and minority groups with historically low turnout rates.
“Many of the people we are reaching out to don’t have a printer in their home,” Tom Lopach, CEO of the Voter Participation Center, said. “We literally make it easier for Americans, for Kansans, to engage in our democracy.”
Lopach said his organization would need to move to Kansas to continue the work while McCarthy said it would be prohibitively expensive for VoteAmerica to open an office in Kansas.
Kansas election officials, however, testified that third-party advance ballot applications created additional burden on election workers in an already difficult year as many voters sent in multiple applications.
In Johnson County, former Johnson County Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt said roughly 35,000 duplicate ballots were submitted. In Shawnee County, Election Commissioner Andrew Howell, said his office received nearly 3,000.
Each duplicate application, they said, took at least five to 10 minutes to process.
Howell said he received several calls from angry and confused voters.
“They thought we were somehow losing the original and asking for another,” he said.
Judge Kathryn Vratil, who is expected to rule as early as next month, suggested the confusion could have been borne of broader mistrust in the postal service and anxiety about the 2020 election.
“The whole integrity of the system of advance mail ballots was in question,” she said.
According to the Brennan Center, Kansas is one of 18 states that has imposed new restrictions on voting this year.
The measures were passed as part of House Bill 2332 and House Bill 2183, approved by the Legislature in May over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
The bills also limit the authority of the state’s executive and judicial branches over elections and impose new restrictions on mail-in voting.
Opponents denounced the bills as “voter suppression.” Republican lawmakers, however, said they were designed to prevent future issues in Kansas elections.
Overall, experts said the bills offered more moderate limits on voting than the wide ranging policies sought in Georgia and Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state’s package into law Tuesday.
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Voter engagement groups say new Kansas election law improperly bars their work."
