How could Blue Valley Schools hold a partisan-tinged voter registration event?

A voter registration event at a public school should not only be nonpartisan, it should be carefully, assiduously, painstakingly so.

This was not at all the case during a voter registration program at the Blue Valley Schools’ district-wide Center for Advanced Professional Studies magnet program last month.

The event featured a speech by Democratic state Senate candidate Joy Koesten, while her Republican counterpart, incumbent state Sen. John Skubal, wasn’t even invited to attend. And one of the voter registration websites recommended to the students was created by Democratic activists.

“Not only did they allow a campaign stump for a Democratic candidate, they also attempted to push students to register with Kansas Democrats’ registration tool,” Shannon Golden, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, told The Star.

While there may be nothing nefarious about that, or illegal by any means, it’s certainly not scrupulously nonpartisan as the schools should have it and the League of Women Voters, which helped stage the event, would also have it.

Having both major parties equally represented at such a program is simply elementary. How could that have possibly been overlooked?

Someone at the League of Women Voters or the school district might also have taken a closer look at the KSVotes.org voter registration website, a creation of GPS Impact and Blueprint Kansas, both of which have ties to Democratic activists, including Brian McClendon, former Democratic candidate for Kansas secretary of state.

The site touts itself in big type toward the top of its web page as “Your Kansas Online Voter Registration Service” — as if it’s an official state-sanctioned site. At the bottom of the page, in smaller print, comes the disclaimer that “KSVotes.org is a 501(c)3 non-partisan non-profit organization and not a service of the Kansas Secretary of State.” That’s nice to know.

The site’s privacy policy includes that, “We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this policy to third parties.” Might that include the Democratic Party? If so, might that make this not just a voter registration effort but a voter mining operation? Even if not, the appearance is unmistakable.

While the Blue Valley school district initially defended the one-sided event, to its great credit, it reversed itself this week — telling The Star that, “Upon further review, while well-intentioned, the efforts to invite a representative sample of people with varied experiences in civic engagement fell short of district expectations.”

In addition, on the matter of the voter registration websites recommended to the 400 juniors and seniors in attendance, the district has decided that, “After further study, the Secretary of State’s website should have been the preferred resource used.”

Damage has already been done, however, including giving area conservatives another reason to suspect liberal indoctrination in the public schools. Northeast Johnson County Republican Women president Judy Swofford called the episode shameful, suggesting Blue Valley “have another event presented by the Republican Party for the CAPS students with the Republican candidate.”

Most disappointing in this whole incident, though, is the League of Women Voters’ disinclination — in written statements to The Star from both the local and national organizations — to admit mistakes were made, as the school district now has.

“The League and Blue Valley faculty invited numerous members of the community and elected officials from both political parties to participate in this innovative program,” Ellen Miller, president of the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, said in a written statement. “Staff members from the office of Sen. Jerry Moran as well as several local elected officials listened to presentations and talked to students about several issues related to voting.”

The response from the national organization was similarly milquetoast, with League of Women Voters of the United States’ communications and digital strategy senior director Sarah Courtney noting that “Leagues will participate in tens of thousands of events this busy election year as part of our mission to reach as many voters as possible with the nonpartisan resources they need to participate in our elections.”

“The League of Women Voters is proud to provide nonpartisan voter registration at all opportunities, to engage new voters of any background. We do not support or oppose candidates or political parties.”

Yet, the Blue Valley event has further solidified local Republicans’ opinion of the League of Women Voters as anything but an impartial entity.

“Totally partisan and biased,” said Dave Myres, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party.

“Republicans do not believe the League of Women Voters is nonpartisan in any way shape or form,” Swofford added.

Sadly, the League’s self-congratulating rhetoric rings even hollower here now.

This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.