In defending the perceived threat to election ballot boxes in Kansas, House Elections Committee chairman Rep. Pat Proctor, R-Leavenworth, likened the dangers of them being vandalized to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I bet people really wished they had locked the cabins on airplanes on Sept. 10, but it was too late,” Proctor said.
The very existence of ballot boxes makes them vulnerable to attacks, Proctor said, and extreme measures — 24-hour video surveillance — are necessary to ensure their reliability.
The surveillance measure is included in the committee’s House Bill 2057, which passed earlier this week, and now goes before the full House.
The bill also requires ballot boxes be accessible only during the office hours of elections officials, essentially muting one of their purposes of making voting more accessible in the off-hours.
The inherent flexibility of ballot boxes typically results in a 7 percent increase in voter participation, according to studies.
County commissioners across the state are against the legislation, Mike Taylor of the Kansas County Commissioners Association, told committee members.
“We are opposing this bill because we think it’s going to disenfranchise many, many voters who depend on easy access to those drop boxes,” Taylor testified before committee members. “We also think it’s going to add a lot of unneeded expense to the counties and taxpayers.”
House Bill 2057 does not include any funding mechanism, meaning counties would bear the cost of the additional safeguards.
And that’s not all.
Elections Committee members also passed House Bill 2056 requiring advance ballots be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Currently, ballots mailed to election offices have a three-day grace period as long as they are sent through the mail by Election Day.
The very brief bill — 77 words! — gives no justification for the new deadline.
That’s OK. We can read between the lines.
In short, it’s another means to restrict voter access, especially among the disabled population where an estimated 40 percent rely on absentee voting.
Those living overseas such as those in the armed services could also be affected by the legislation, where, through no fault of their own, their ballots are held up in transit.
