Kansas Gov. Kelly vetoes GOP election bills, says they’re ‘designed to disenfranchise’

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed two election bills Friday, one that would tighten advance mailing rules and another that sought to prevent the executive and judicial branches from altering election laws.

Kelly, a Democrat who had been silent about the changes proposed by the GOP supermajority, issued a statement labeling them as “voter suppression.”

“This...is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. It is designed to disenfranchise Kansans, making it difficult for them to participate in the democratic process, not to stop voter fraud,” Kelly said.

The measures, House Bill 2332 and House Bill 2183, are part of a nationwide Republican effort to restrict ballot access following baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Kelly warned that passage of such laws could cost the state economic opportunities, alluding to a severe backlash from businesses in Georgia after the state’s Legislature passed a massive overhaul of voting laws.

Both measures passed the Senate with a veto-proof majority. But they will need four additional votes in the House for limitations on advance voting to become law and one more to override Kelly’s veto on limits to executive and judicial authority.

Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Derby Republican and chair of the House elections committee, said he believed Kansans would be reaching out to their representatives ahead of potential override votes.

“I think our citizens are looking at these other states and really questioning the validity and the trustworthiness of what occurred,” Carpenter said. “We need to do the best we can here in the state of Kansas to make sure that every time Republicans and Democrats can trust the results of our elections.”

Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab has reported that Kansas had “free and fair” elections last year. Proponents say they are seeking to head off future problems.

“When you are trying to ensure election integrity it’s disappointing when the governor decides to veto,” said Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a Galena Republican. “We are supposed to be proactive and if we see instances where there could be and we can do a better job of ensuring election integrity then we should be doing that.”

Opponents said the measures, especially one limiting how many advance ballots someone can return on behalf of other voters, will serve to make voting more difficult especially for the disabled and elderly.

“These election bills are designed to disproportionately harm elderly Kansans, college students, and members of the military trying to exercise their right to vote. Furthermore, they continue a dangerous trend of taking away powers from other elected officials,” House Majority Leader Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said in a statement applauding the governor’s decision.

House Bill 2332 prohibits the executive and judicial branches of government from creating election laws. It also prevents the Secretary of State from entering into consent decrees with a court without legislative approval.

The measures were triggered by decisions in two states pivotal to the 2020 elections.

One was the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to extend the due date for mail ballots. The other was a consent decree entered into by the Georgia secretary of state to establish standards for checking signatures on ballots. A lawsuit alleged that ballots of Black voters were being disproportionately disqualified.

The mail ballot bill also creates disclosure requirements for organizations distributing information about mail-in voting. It mandates the Secretary of State to maintain residential addresses in addition to mailing addresses of voters. It also creates new election tampering crimes.

The residential address requirements stem an election fraud charge brought against former U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins who listed his home address as a UPS store.

House Bill 2183 focuses largely on mail-in voting. It limits who is permitted to return a mail-in ballot for another person and makes it a misdemeanor for one person to return more than 10 mail-in ballots. The measure also requires the signature on a mail ballot to match the signature election officials have on file, creating a potential for votes to be discarded, and bans the Secretary of State from extending mail-in vote deadlines.

The bill also makes it illegal to backdate a postmark on a ballot and bars election offices from accepting money from any entity other than the state for administering elections.

“The bills are based on misinformation and misunderstanding, and have the potential to cause a chilling effect on democracy in Kansas. We’re grateful that Gov. Kelly vetoed the bills and call on legislators to protect Kansas voters by sustaining her vetoes,” Davis Hammet, president of Loud Light Action which advocates for voting rights, said in a statement.

An original version of this story incorrectly stated the measures limited the power of the legislative branch. They limit the power of the judicial branch.