From the Kansas House Democratic Caucus: The Senate introduced a brand new bill (SB307) the evening of March 25th and scheduled a hearing in the Federal and State Committee the following day with ZERO business hours of public notice. The Committee also amended and combined several bills resulting in Senate Substitute for House Bill 2332 (Now includes HB2332, HB2339, HB2183) and Senate Substitute for House Bill 2183 (Now includes SB11, SB35, SB292, SB293). These bills passed out of committee and are likely to be voted on the Senate floor the week of the 29th and go to conference committee the week of April 5th. The legislature takes its April break starting on the 9th.
OK. I know there's a lot of technical and procedural stuff in the above paragraphs.
All those bills combined, this is what would happen:
Eliminates the 3-day grace period for Election-Day-postmarked ballots to arrive and be counted
Prevents mail ballots from being turned in at poll sites on Election Day
Mail ballots will begin to be sent to voters 15 days in advance, instead of 20
Makes it a felony to help more than 5 people return their ballots (think of the impact on group living situations)
Blocks the Executive and Judicial branches from modifying election laws, to include the Secretary of State in times of emergency
In the 2020 Election, more than 30,000 ballots arrived during that 3-day grace period. Those ballots were postmarked on or before Nov. 3rd and had every right to be counted.
Advanced voting in Kansas is safe and secure. This slate of voter suppression legislation adds no new protections and subsequently, makes local election administration more difficult.
This legislation echoes the days of Kris Kobach - who wasted MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of tax payer monies to settle a voter suppression lawsuit. Why is the legislature risking our valuable tax revenues on such egregious legislation that will be challenged in court?
CALL TO ACTION! Contact our Riley County legislators, as well as the leadership in both chambers and both parties.
RILEY COUNTY: D67 Rep. Mike Dodson D66 Rep. Sydney Carlin D64 Rep. Suzi Carlson D22 Sen. Tom Hawk HOUSE: Speaker of the House, Ron Ryckman Speaker Pro Tem, Blaine Finch Majority Leader, Daniel Hawkins Asst. Majority Leader, Les Mason Majority Whip, Blake Carpenter Majority Caucus Chair, Ken Rahjes Minority Leader, Tom Sawyer Asst. Minority Leader, Jason Probst Minority Whip, Stephanie Clayton Minority Caucus Chair, Barbara Ballard Minority Agenda Chair, Brandon Woodard Minority Policy Chair, Rui Xu SENATE: President of the Senate, Ty Masterson Vice President of Senate, Rick Wilborn Majority Leader, Gene Suellentrop Assistant Majority Leader, Larry Alley Majority Whip, Richard Hilderbrand Minority Leader, Dinah Sykes Asst. Minority Leader, Oletha Faust- Mintority Whip, Pat Pettey Agenda Chair, Marci Francisco Caucus Chair, Jeff Pitman
Emails for all of the above legislators:
mike.dodson@house.ks.gov, sydney.carlin@house.ks.gov, Suzi.Carlson@house.ks.gov, Tom.Hawk@senate.ks.gov, ron.ryckman@house.ks.gov, blaine.finch@house.ks.gov, dan.hawkins@house.ks.gov, les.mason@house.ks.gov, blake.carpenter@house.ks.gov, ken.rahjes@house.ks.gov, tom.sawyer@house.ks.gov, Jason.Probst@house.ks.gov, stephanie.clayton@house.ks.gov, barbara.ballard@house.ks.gov, Brandon.Woodard@house.ks.gov, Rui.Xu@house.ks.gov, Ty.Masterson@senate.ks.gov, Richard.Wilborn@senate.ks.gov, Gene.Suellentrop@senate.ks.gov, Larry.Alley@senate.ks.gov, Richard.Hilderbrand@senate.ks.gov, Dinah.Sykes@senate.ks.gov, Oletha.Faust-Goudeau@senate.ks.gov, Pat.Pettey@senate.ks.gov, Marci.Francisco@senate.ks.gov, Jeff.Pittman@senate.ks.gov,