ONE VOICE, ONE VOTE

Brad Bryant, Deputy Secretary of State and Brian Newby Johnson County Election Commissioners were speakers.

Mr. Bryant opened by stating that the goal of the Office of Secretary of State in regard to elections is to make registering to vote easier and voting more convenient. The goal also includes balancing opportunity with voting security. Advance voting was authorized in 1995 and has become more and more popular as voters are taking advantage of this convenience. It is, however, changing the way candidates run their elections.

Federal legislation does preclude state voting laws. After the 2001 election Congress created the most recent law, Help America Vote Act (HAVA). HAVA moves states to regulate voting more uniformly nationwide. It allows people with disabilities to have privacy when they vote. The results of the election of 2004 show that more people became involved. The Office of Secretary of State recognizes that more work needs to be done with security of the vote. There are three bills pending in the Kansas Legislature that address that issue: SB 267 was proposed by the Secretary of State and addresses the issue of voter ID; HB 2077 addresses the issue of photo ID; SB 56 addresses the issue of security of advance ballots by mail. SB 56 would require that every election officer be sworn in and trained, that advance ballots by mail must be mailed and not hand carried to the election office. It has been reported that advance ballots were illegally removed from mailboxes and examined. Those ballots were selectively delivered to the election and others discarded.

From the perspective of the Office of Secretary of State the 2008 election was very successful in that there were a record number of registrations. Motor/voter expanded opportunities. Advance ballots were cast in record numbers. Two counties recorded over half the ballots cast were by advance ballots.

Mr. Bryant stated that county election offices can process provisional ballots but cannot count them until they have been verified. Provisional ballots must be handled in a uniform and equal basis statewide. Verifying provisional ballots is vital to identify voters attempting to vote in two different counties. There is no system to check if voters are crossing stateliness because voter databases are not shared between states.

Mr. Bryant stated that the Election Offices administer elections. The Election Office is required to know election law and abide by that law under the advice of the Board of County Commissioners. The Election Office has the discretion of accepting or rejecting provisional ballots.

The investigative powers of the Secretary of State need to be expanded. It also needs a law requiring training. The Office of Secretary of State is administrative only. If wrongdoing is discovered it is referred to law enforcement agencies. There is no conversation at this point to expand those powers.

Same day registration is coming and it is highly possible it will occur. Activity by ACORN has decreased in the metro area but has increased in other areas.

The Secretary of State accepts the candidates who are certified by state conventions and does not investigate the citizenship of candidates. There is no way to check if out of state students vote in both states although all states have voter registration databases. However, it is a felony to vote illegally. The Secretary of State cannot require proof of citizenship. There is a line on the registration form that asks if the applicants are citizens but there is no follow up to see if the declaration of citizenship is true. Non-English ballots are required when 5% of the registered voters do not speak English.

Johnson County Election Commissioner Brian Newby stated that the voter database could catch voters who register in two counties. The signatures on all mail in ballots are verified with the registration on file. The advance ballot results are reported by 7:00pm on Election Day. The rest of the results are reported by 10:40pm. Johnson County was the first large county in the state to report results. The cards in the voting machines are not connected to the Internet or the intranet. The voting machines used now were purchased in 2000.

The Election Office remains very busy between elections. There were 26 elections in 49 months. Mr. Newby sadly reported that Karen Browning would be retiring this year. She will be sorely missed as she had worked in the Election Office for many years and her institutional knowledge will be hard to replace. Voter registration databases must be maintained. Preparations for every election must be made. This includes finding polling places, printing ballots, mailing ballots, printing voter cards, mailing voter cards, tracking voters who do not vote on a regular basis and removing the name when appropriate..

Voting and registration is county by county. Currently in Johnson County the registration is 47% Republican, 29% Independent, 23% Democrat and 1% Libertarian. Johnson County will be the largest, most populous county in the state by 2030. Voters must be cognizant when voting by advanced ballot or provisional ballot, that once it is cast it cannot be retrieved.

The Election Office maintains the local voter rolls. The Department of Statistics notifies the Election Office of filed death certificates. Voters are maintained on the rolls for 5 years. If the voter has not voted in any election during that time, the name is removed from the rolls. About 10% of the voters are removed annually. Cards are mailed to all voters to notify voters of elections, the location of the polls and to check to see if there has been a change of address. If the card is returned as undeliverable, the name can be removed from the polls, but the voter can vote a provisional ballot with proof of their new address. Voters who move out of state are not checked. The Election Office will maintain the name for 5 years unless the other state sends notification of registration in  that other state. This doesn’t happen very often.

The number of transactions in the Election Office has increased enormously over the last 14 years. In 1998 the Election Office had 4,471 registration transactions. In 2008 the Election Office had 21,905 registration transactions. The Election Office has had the same number of staff (14) even though the duties and activities have increased greatly.  By law, records must be kept. The current Election Office is running out of storage room. With the population growth in the county the Election Office needs more staff and space. The Election Office does hire poll workers on the Election Day and pays for training. More poll workers are needed. Recruiting poll workers is difficult and it is a very long day, especially when there is Presidential Election.

The Election Office is constantly looking for permanent polling places. This is a real problem so the Election Office encourages advance voting.

In the election of 2008 there was a 78% turnout in Johnson County. This is the second largest turnout. In this election 50% of the votes were by advance ballot. Only 5% of the voters actually voted in the incorrect voting place.

The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners funds the Election Office.

The Secretary of State appoints the Commissioner of Elections.