No matter the outcome of the Aug. 2 vote on whether to keep Kansas abortion laws on the books, the experience provides valuable lessons.
First off, Kansas voters should demand an issue of such importance be decided at the general election in November.
Instead, the super-majority of Republicans in the Kansas Legislature voted to put the measure on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot.
Voter participation in primary elections is generally half that of a general election. That’s because the primary election ballot generally concerns intra-party races that only registered Democrats and Republicans will decide.
In Kansas, about half of voters are Republican, another 30% claim no political party, and the remaining 20% are Democrats.
So yes, the cards were designed to be stacked against pro-choice voters, who lean Democratic or independent, come Aug. 2.
Though all registered voters can vote on the abortion referendum in the Aug. 2 election, getting the word out has been a significant hurdle.
To avoid this disconnect, many state legislatures require constitutional amendments be placed on the ballot for a general election. Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Nebraska and South Carolina, for example, specify that any constitutional amendment votes must be held at elections at which state legislators are to be elected, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
If proponents of the measure truly wanted the people of Kansas to decide whether legislators should have the power to change our existing abortion protections, they would have put it on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
THE ONLY recourse against such an inherently biased system is to elect a more balanced body politic. We need more women, minorities and Democrats, more candidates on this side of age 50, and more moderate Republicans in the Legislature to give balance to an increasingly far-right groupthink responsible for policy-making.
— Susan Lynn
