Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Kansas GOP splits over new law making it easier to vote

Voters cast ballots in Kansas

Voting in 2018 in Peoria, an hour southwest of Kansas City. A new law is supposed to give Kansans more flexibility to choose where to cast ballots in their county.

Whitney Curtis/Getty Images

Efforts to expand access to the ballot box in Kansas in time for the presidential election face further delays because of an intensifying dispute among the Republicans in charge in Topeka.

Ten months ago the Legislature enacted a law giving voters a broader choice of polling places. But Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who took office last year, has delayed instituting the change because he says it raises security concerns — and that at least a year more is needed to ensure electronic voter lists and computer systems are ready.

Even some of his fellow Republicans at the statehouse say Schwab is creating flimsy excuses masking his disinterest in making it more convenient to vote in a year when Kansas' traditionally deep red hue is going to be tested, especially in an open-seat Senate contest.

The tussle also revives the image of Kansas as a voting rights minefield that was set when conservative Republican Kris Kobach was secretary of state and pushed for some of the country's strictest voter ID laws, including a proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters now on hold in the courts. Koback is now running for the Senate.


Kansas' law would allow voters to cast ballots at any of the dozens of voting centers set up by their home counties rather than at their precinct-specific polling locations. Proponents say this gives voters more flexibility and will boost turnout. Currently, 16 states have laws that permit counties to run voting centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

While it will take time to implement this new system, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike agree that at the very least Sedgwick County, which includes the state's largest city, Wichita, can handle the change. Sedgwick already has multiple voting sites linked and the voting equipment, in place since 2017, allows for polling place flexibility.

At the end of January, a bipartisan group of 26 legislators introduced a bill that would allow Sedgwick County voters to use any polling place for the 2020 primary and general elections. However, last week, two scheduled hearings for this bill were canceled.

Read More

"Vote Here" sign
Grace Cary/Getty Images

The path forward for electoral reform

The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers hosted its post-election gathering Dec. 2-4 in San Diego. More than 120 leaders from across the country convened to reflect on the November elections, where reform campaigns achieved mixed results with multiple state losses, and to chart a path forward for nonpartisan electoral reforms. As the Bridge Alliance Education Fund is a founding member of NANR and I currently serve on the board, I attended the gathering in hopes of getting some insight on how we can best serve the collective needs of the electoral reform community in the coming year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Peopel waiting in line near a sign that reads "Vote Here: Polling Place"

People wait to vote in the 2024 election at city hall in Anchorage, Alaska.

Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images

How Alaska is making government work again

At the end of a bitter and closely divided election season, there’s a genuine bright spot for democracy from our 49th state: Alaskans decided to keep the state’s system of open primaries and ranked choice voting because it is working.

This is good news not only for Alaska, but for all of us ready for a government that works together to get things done for voters.

Keep ReadingShow less
people voting
Getty Images

How to reform the political system to fight polarization and extremism

On Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., Elections Reform Now will present a webinar on “How to Reform the Political System to Combat Polarization and Extremism.”

In 2021, a group of the leading academics in the United States formed a task force to study the polarization of the American electorate and arrive at solutions to the dysfunction of our electoral system. They have now written a book, "Electoral Reform in the United States: Proposals for Combating Polarization and Extremism," published just this month.

Keep ReadingShow less
a hand holding a red button that says i vote
Parker Johnson/Unsplash

Yes, elections have consequences – primary elections to be specific

Can you imagine a Republican winning in an electoral district in which Democrats make up 41 percent of the registered electorate? Seems farfetched in much of the country. As farfetched as a Democrat winning in a R+10 district.

It might be in most places in the U.S. – but not in California.

Republican Rep. David Valadao won re-election in California's 22nd congressional district, where registered Republicans make up just shy of 28 percent of the voting population. But how did he do it?

Keep ReadingShow less