Should Kansas ban mail-only elections? How JoCo & WyCo House members voted

Next month, voters in Olathe and De Soto will decide the fate of bond issues in their respective school districts and Edgerton residents will weigh a 1% sales tax for infrastructure upgrades.

All three elections will be decided exclusively by mail ballots.

Mail-only elections are a popular tool in Johnson County for single-question ballot measures.

Under a bill advanced by the Kansas House on Thursday, they would no longer be an option.

HB 2503, which passed the House 72-50, would repeal the Mail Ballot Election Act, eliminating a democratic mechanism that local governments have had at their disposal since 1983.

“We do not think the State should force local governments to utilize election procedures that will decrease voter turnout,” reads written opponent testimony to the bill submitted by the city of Overland Park.

The legislation, which has not yet been considered by the Senate, would not eliminate or restrict mail balloting in regular elections. The state law it aims to repeal already prohibits elections that include candidates from being conducted without an in-person voting option.

The bill passed the House despite uniform Democratic opposition and dissent among some Johnson County Republicans and some GOP lawmakers who represent rural areas of the state.

Mail-only election debate

Proponents of the bill argue that mail-only elections are susceptible to meddling because ballots are automatically sent to all registered voters.

“The reality is that it has discouraged voter participation, it has increased cost, the post office has no accountability, and there’s inadequate verifiable voter ID,” said Rep. Allen Reavis, an Atchison Republican who sponsored the bill, during a hearing earlier this month.

Opponents pushed back against those assertions.

“This bill is not a technical or administrative update; it is a substantive policy change that significantly reduces voter access and local flexibility,” wrote the Kansas Legislative Policy Group, a nonpartisan coalition of 33 rural counties that submitted testimony opposing HB 2503.

“Its practical effect is to allow outcomes to be determined by a smaller and less representative group of voters,” the KLPG testimony continued.

Rick Piepho, Harvey County’s clerk and the legislative liaison for the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials Association, testified that on average, 50-60% of registered voters participate in mail-only special question elections. When the same elections are held through traditional polling-place elections, average voter turnout usually ranges from 20-30%, he said.

One Johnson County Republican, Rep. Angela Stiens of Shawnee, co-sponsored the bill that would repeal mail-only elections.

Five Johnson County Republicans voted against the bill — Lauren Bohi of Olathe, Roby Essex of Olathe, John Resman of Olathe, Chip VanHouden of Spring Hill and Laura Williams of Lenexa.

Before HB 2503 could become law, it would have to be adopted by the Senate and signed by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, or enacted over her veto with the support of supermajorities of lawmakers in each chamber.

The 72 Republican votes the bill garnered on Thursday were 12 fewer than the two-thirds necessary to override a potential veto in the House. Two Republicans and one Democrat were absent from the vote.

Here’s how each House lawmaker from Johnson County and Wyandotte County voted on HB 2503. A yes vote signifies support for banning mail-only elections, and a no vote signifies support for preserving them.

Johnson County

Lauren Bohi (R) No

Stephanie Clayton (D) No

Chris Croft (R) Yes

Charlotte Esau (R) Yes

Robyn Essex (R) No

Jo Ella Hoye (D) No

Linda Featherston (D) No

Nikki McDonald (D) No

Heather Meyer (D) No

Cindy Neighbor (D) No

Dan Osman (D) No

Jarrod Ousley (D) No

Mari-Lynn Poskin (D) No

John Resman (R) No

Susan Ruiz (D) No

Courtney Sappington (R) Yes

Angela Stiens (R) Yes

Jerry Stogsdill (D) No

Bill Sutton (R) Yes

Sean Tarwater (R) Yes

Adam Turk (R) No

Carl Turner (R) Yes

Chip VanHouden (R) No

Lindsay Vaughn (D) No

Laura Williams (R) No

Brandon Woodard (D) No

Rui Xu (D) No

Wyandotte County

Wanda Brownlee Paige (D) No

Carolyn Caiharr (R) No

Pam Curtis (D) No

Timothy Johnson (R) No

Lynn Melton (D) No

Melissa Oropeza (D) No

Louis Ruiz (D) No

Valdenia Winn (D) Absent and not voting

Matthew Kelly

The Kansas City Star

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Matthew Kelly is The Kansas City Star’s Kansas State Government reporter. He previously covered local government for The Wichita Eagle. Kelly holds a political science degree from Wichita State University.