Miles Rapoport: Don’t politicize election office

Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or an independent, one of the fundamentals of government service is that you avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest.

If you own stocks, you don’t debate or vote on bills that might affect their value. If your spouse is a doctor, you avoid medical malpractice legislation. And if you’re responsible for administering election laws, you remove your partisan hat and stay away – far away – from political campaigns.

I learned these lessons as secretary of the state in Connecticut in the 1990s. I ran and was elected as a Democrat. But as secretary of state, charged with overseeing the machinery of state elections, I felt obliged to act in ways that would reassure everyone that state elections were being administered fairly and in accordance with the letter and spirit of state law and without regard to partisan impact.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach seems to have a different view of his responsibilities, one that recently propelled him into the national spotlight as a central figure in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Kobach, a Republican, publicly supports and serves on the honorary campaign committee of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. Kobach has ruled that along with Roberts and independent candidate Greg Orman, the name of Chad Taylor, the Democratic nominee, must be on the Kansas ballot in November, despite Taylor’s declaration that he is no longer a candidate.

Taylor went to Kobach’s office on Sept. 3 to withdraw from the race, signed a letter stating his intention, and had it notarized by a member of Kobach’s staff. But Kobach ruled that because Taylor did not declare in the letter that he would be unable to serve if elected, Kansas law requires that he remain on the ballot. If the ruling stands – and Taylor is challenging it in a lawsuit – it could be a key to the outcome of the election.

My concern as an advocate for fairly run, inclusive elections is not with the impact of Kobach’s decision on the Roberts-Orman contest. What I’m worried about – what we all should be worried about – is the politicization of election administration in Kansas and across America.

Kansas is one of 38 states in which the top election official is selected in a partisan contest. In 32 states, there is no restriction on political activity by that official.

That’s unhealthy for our democracy.

Controversies like the one unfolding in Kansas invite public cynicism about the integrity of the election process. They fuel a sense among voters that elections can be rigged and that partisan operatives are busy trying to rig them. That’s something a secretary of state ought to be busy trying to prevent, not encourage.

This story was originally published September 13, 2014 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Miles Rapoport: Don’t politicize election office."