Staff Reports
In Kansas, Republican lawmakers were geared up to make mail-in voting a little trickier, but they ended up wrestling with internal strife instead. The hubbub all started when a bill was on the table to slash the extra three days voters had to send in their mail-in ballots after Election Day. But hold your horses, because during a heated debate on Monday, Republican senators got twitchy about the security of the state’s elections. Well, that got them all in a tizzy, and they ended up amending the bill to also ban remote ballot drop boxes and ballot counting machines, all because they got spooked about potential manipulation, even though there’s not much evidence of shenanigans. And guess what? The Senate ended up shooting down the whole shebang on Tuesday. Oops!
Now, Republican State Sen. Mark Steffen spearheaded those amendments and caused quite a ruckus, especially since Governor Laura Kelly wasn’t too keen on the original grace period restrictions to start with. Meanwhile, Senate President Ty Masterson hollered about how nixing the vote tabulation machines wouldn’t really make elections any safer. And boy, did things get fired up during the debate! Steffen came out swinging, saying Masterson was just plain scared of keeping elections fair and square. Burn! But wait, there’s more! Republican Elections Committee Chairman Pat Proctor piped up and declared that the House wasn’t interested in axing remote ballot boxes. And you better believe the Democrats weren’t having it either, calling the whole shebang a plan to rob people of their right to vote. Yikes!
Hang on a second, because here comes the cherry on top of this wild ride. Voting rights advocates threw in their two cents too, warning that getting rid of ballot boxes and slashing the mail-in voting grace period would make it extra tough for minority groups, older folks, and people with disabilities to cast their ballots. Phew! What a rollercoaster!
In the end, it looks like those Kansas Republicans really went at it hammer and tongs over this whole mail-in voting saga. Will they ever see eye to eye? Stay tuned!
