Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh December 2002 CANVASSING KANSAS AN UPDATE ON ELECTION NEWS IN KANSAS Thornburgh Attends Signing of Federal Election Reform Legislation E veryone with an interest in elections Executive Office Building next door to Thornburgh to witness history in the mak- has been watching the long path taken by the White House. Kansas Secretary of ing. He said, “Now that Congress has the federal election reform legislation in State Ron Thornburgh received an invi- passed the legislation, the focus will shift Congress during the past two years. Dif- tation to fill one of two places allotted to to implementing these groundbreaking ferent bills were passed by the House and the National Association of Secretaries of changes. I will work with Congress and Senate last year, and much of this year State at the signing ceremony. The invi- my colleagues to fully fund these changes was spent in conference committee work- tation was extended to Thornburgh be- and to ensure fair and accurate elections ing out a compromise bill (see Canvass- cause he served as president of NASS in across the U.S.” ing Kansas, September 2002, p. 1). 2001 during the critical period when the Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Finally a compromise bill was pro- legislation was drafted. As NASS presi- chairman of the House Committee on duced, which the House of Representa- dent and a former state election director, Administration and chief architect and tives passed 357 – 48 on October 10 and he wielded considerable influence in de- sponsor of the bill in the House, com- the Senate passed 92 – 2 on October 16. signing the plan to address inadequacies mended Thornburgh for his involvement. The legislation is referred to as the Help of the electoral system as evidenced by “Secretary of State Thornburgh played a America Vote Act of 2002. the 2000 election while at the same time critical role in bringing together groups President Bush had promised quick making the changes easier to administer Please see Reform, page 3 action, and a signing ceremony was held for election officials. on October 29, 2002 in the Eisenhower It was a rare opportunity for CANVASSING KANSAS 2002 General Election Wrap-up IN THIS ISSUE T he November 5, 2002 general elec- for Attorney General, where both sides tion brought the usual excitement of a appointed numerous poll agents to fan out 2 Voting Integrity Effort Launched statewide election. Hotly contested races, across the state in as many counties as by SOS and DOJ last-minute campaign blitzes and shift- possible to observe the canvass proceed- 3 Holiday SOS Office Schedule ing polling numbers created their share ings. of excitement, but there was also an in- One of the factors making the 2002 3 Hartenbower Reports on creased awareness and scrutiny of the election season special was redistricting. Macedonia Election voting, tabulating and canvassing pro- The once-a-decade process of redrawing 4 Statewide Recount Narrowly cesses, largely brought about by the in- district lines for U.S. House of Represen- Averted in AG Race credibly close presidential race of 2000. tatives, Kansas House of Representatives, The media and the public in general have Kansas Senate, and Kansas State Board 4 Ensley’s Election Eatin’s focused their attention more closely on of Education always creates extra work the electoral process. for election officers and some confusion 5 Election Standards Pass Test Part of the increased attention came among voters as they sort out the new 5 Thornburgh Sued by Natural in the form of authorized poll agents. races they will be voting on. This year the Law Party Statewide, there was an increase in the planning process for the primary election amount of poll agent activity as cam- was further disrupted by a federal lawsuit 6 Six Counties Produce Spanish paigns, candidates and political parties challenging the redistricting plan passed Voting Materials realized this is the prescribed method for by the Legislature (see Canvassing Kan- 6 Clarification of Voter History on observing the casting and counting of bal- sas, September 2002, p. 4). Registration File lots. This was especially true in the race Please see Wrap, page 2 Voting Integrity Effort Launched by Secretary of State and Department of Justice CANVASSING O n Wednesday, October 30, 2002, Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh and KANSAS U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren held a joint press conference to announce a new initia- tive to promote voting integrity. The goal of the program is to ensure public confi- Published by the office of dence in the integrity of the election process by protecting voting rights and prosecut- ing election crimes. Earlier, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft had committed the resources of the Secretary of State Department of Justice to the project and had instructed U.S. Attorneys nationwide to Ron Thornburgh designate District Election Officers from their respective areas to help guarantee access, honesty and integrity at the polls on election day. U.S. Attorneys also may bring the Federal Bureau of Investigation into instances of possible election fraud or Memorial Hall other illegal behavior. Eric Melgren, U.S. Attorney for the district of Kansas, ap- 120 SW 10th Ave. pointed Leon Patton of the Kansas City office as District Election Officer. Topeka, KS 66612-1594 Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh committed the efforts of his staff to help coor- (785) 296-4564 dinate the effort, and the office of agreed to help and, if needed, to commit the resources of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Editor During the press conference Melgren and Thornburgh provided the public with Amber M. Cunningham telephone numbers for citizens to call to report suspected cases of crimes or denial of voting rights. Layout and Design “The detection of election fraud depends in large part on the watchfulness and Amber M. Cunningham cooperation of the American electorate. It is imperative that those who have been asked to participate in questionable election practices, or who have observed or have Contributing Writers specific information regarding electoral corruption, make that information available Brad Bryant immediately to my office or to the FBI. The cooperation of this country’s citizens in Amber Cunningham helping to protect the sanctity of the ballot box is crucial. It is also appreciated,” Melgren said. “This is in no way suggesting that we anticipate problems with the state of Kansas If you have any suggestions or election officials. They are competent professionals in whom we have the highest comments about this or future confidence. Instead, the United States Attorney’s office will team up with state elec- issues, please call (785) 296-4580. tion officials to receive and investigate any citizen complaints of possible voting rights violations.” Copyright 2002 Added Thornburgh, “Make no mistake, Kansas is no Florida and this new partner- Kansas Secretary of State ship ensures we never will be. It should be easier to vote and harder to cheat. If any Kansan has a problem or question between now and election day, pick up the phone This publication may be duplicated and let us know.” for informational purposes only. No During and after election day there were a number of reports made by citizens written permission is required with concerned about possible abuses. Officials are reviewing the reports to determine if the exception of articles or informa- prosecutable offenses occurred and, if so, whether a state or federal level prosecution tion attributed to a source other than is more appropriate. the Office of the Kansas Secretary of State. Wrap From page 1 Voter turnout was average. After a disappointing 25.8% turnout in the primary In several ways this was an election election (recognizing that voters who are not Democrats or Republicans do not par- of firsts: it was the first time in many years ticipate in the primary), the general election turnout returned to a more normal level. that some counties were required to pro- Here is how this election’s turnout compares to the previous two gubernatorial elec- duce ballots and voting materials in Span- tions: ish, it was the first general election con- Year # Registered # Voting % Voting ducted using the new Kansas Election 2002 1,615,333 832,208 52 Standards, and it was the first time in 1998 1,513,685 751,505 50 many decades where we came to the 1994 1,273,648 836,251 64 brink of a statewide recount, in the At- Turnout this year was very close to expectations. On November 1, Secretary of torney General race. State Ron Thornburgh predicted a turnout of 820,000 votes, or 51%.

2 Canvassing Kansas Hartenbower Reports on Macedonia Election Lyon County clerk Karen Hartenbower served as an election observer in the Macedonia election in September. Her trip spanned the period September 9 to 18, 2002. Following is her report. M onitoring the Macedonia election was ing the last 24 hours before the election. 70% turnout. In Macedonia you vote only Albania revisited without the security risk Their elections are held on Sundays so for the party. The party that wins fills all and without as much fraud. There were no one has to take off work. Friday night the positions. Out of the over 800 ballots 800 people from around the world to they were sure busy. They had spray cast at the station we finished with only monitor the election. painted anything they could, buildings, two ballots that were not for the party that I was deployed to the mountains again, houses, streets, sidewalks, shrubbery, etc. won. The Socialist Party won and beat region 6 - Zajas. Many of the things I They hung banners high (so no one could the Prime Minister’s party. They were observed were the same as in Albania. A reach them) on light poles by the polling all happy about that. One ballot was poor country with many problems but a stations. So much for their law about no spoiled (they voted for 2 parties) and the populace that was determined to vote. campaigning within 200 yards of polling other was for another party. The interesting thing that I noticed was station. There was some fraud in other parts the concern that everyone is able to vote. Their pollworker training was on the of Macedonia but I did not see any. When The requirements were that they are resi- television. It seemed everyone had a sat- we had our debriefing it was reported in dents, 18 years of age and “able to hold a ellite dish, even the poorer homes. Each one station there were 273 more ballots job” (mental ability). Some of the older pollworker has a deputy in case they are voted than signatures. Another reported women were illiterate. All campaign ma- unable to work or have to leave. In many the practice of the ‘Bulgarian Train’: a terial had the party logo and a number of the stations there were deputies help- voter comes in and gets his ballot, goes circled. This way people could memorize ing all day too. into the booth, removes a voted ballot a symbol. The number that was circled There was still some family voting, from his clothes, puts the unvoted ballot was the number that party would be on especially the older women. They usually in his clothes and deposits the previously the ballot. To vote for their party they had their husband or one of their children voted ballot in the ballot box. Then he circled the number or the logo. Those who mark their ballots. There was one man takes the blank ballot back to let some- could not write their name on the regis- who came in with his wife and two daugh- one vote it for the next person. tration list used their right index finger to ters and he voted all four ballots. If anyone ever has the opportunity to place their finger print beside their name. The station we finished with had 87% be an observer for a foreign election I There is no campaigning allowed dur- turnout but the country as a whole had would highly recommend it.

Reform History From page 1 tion systems and improve training of elec- From page 6 at the grassroots level and other secretar- tion officers and education of voters, pro- election reform bill. Each state will be re- ies of state to help move the bill through vide for more efficient administration at quired to upgrade to an automated, inte- the legislative process. His input and sup- the federal level, set uniform standards grated system that automatically updates port was crucial to the success of this leg- for voting equipment, improve voting the central registry. When a county elec- islation, and the people of Kansas should procedures at polling places, recruit poll tion officer adds, deletes or changes a be proud to have him as their secretary workers, and provide identification of record, the system will automatically up- of state.” first-time voters. Many details are to be date the SOS’ CVR file, eliminating the During the signing ceremony, Presi- worked out later. need for quarterly submission of each dent Bush commented, “When problems The Election Center is coordinating county’s file. The new requirements will arise in the administration of elections, with the National Association of State represent a shift of some control from we have a responsibility to fix them. Ev- Election Directors to conduct a training county to state level, but it will at the same ery registered voter deserves to have con- seminar for state officials in San Fran- time provide more consistency in the data. fidence that the system is fair and elec- cisco in December. Also, the National As- tions are honest, that every vote is re- sociation of Secretaries of State is con- SOS Holiday Hours corded, and that the rules are consistently ducting joint training sessions with the The Secretary of State’s office will be applied. The legislation I sign today will National Conference of State Legislatures closed on Wednesday, December 25 for add to the nation’s confidence.” in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colo- the Christmas holiday. On the afternoon The 161-page bill contains many pro- rado. Information from those meetings of December 24 the office will be open visions, including authorization for fed- will be used to begin discussions in Kan- but minimally staffed. The office will also eral funding to replace outdated voting sas on how to implement the new law be closed on Wednesday, New Year’s equipment and to upgrade voter registra- during the next four years. Day, January 1, 2003. Happy Holidays!

December 2002 3 Statewide Recount Narrowly Averted in Attorney General Race ansans nearly witnessed their first recount of a statewide on Monday, November 11, requesting that Sedgwick and Kelection in recent history. The race for Attorney General was Shawnee counties conduct hand recounts and the other 103 extremely close on election night, which focused attention on counties conduct the recount using the same method originally the county canvasses and the counting of provisional ballots used to count the ballots (optical scan, electronic or hand the Friday and Monday after the November 5 election. counted paper ballots). However, when the counties’ canvassed Election night results showed Republican candidate Phill results were complete and posted by the Secretary of State, Biggs Kline with a 3,010 vote margin over Democratic candidate Chris filed a written withdrawal of his request for a recount. Biggs—406,353 to 403,343, which is a near dead heat with If the recount had been conducted, it would have been done 50% for each candidate. with new procedures written into the law in 2001 in the wake The closeness of the race brought intense scrutiny of the of the 2000 presidential election. Many states overhauled their county canvass and provisional ballots by the media, public recount procedures after the so-called Florida experience in and political parties, not to mention the candidates and cam- the Bush-Gore election. Recount procedures in Kansas were paigns. The campaigns appointed authorized poll agents and fine tuned, but no overhaul was needed. The new provisions attorneys across the state to attend as many county canvasses that would have been in effect in a Kline-Biggs recount were as possible in an attempt to protect their candidates’ interests that the candidate in a multi-county or statewide race can make and to gather information to help them decide whether to re- a single request to the Secretary of State rather than contacting quest a recount. Reportedly, a number of counties who usually each county. The Secretary of State then coordinates the proce- have no one attending their canvasses had observers carefully dure with the counties, including collecting cost estimates to watching their every move and every decision made on a pro- determine the amount of the bond posted by the candidate. The visional ballot. type of recount Biggs had requested was estimated to cost ap- The provisional ballots were the focus of special attention proximately $50,000 statewide. because there were nearly 15,000 of them statewide, and if most Another new provision was that if a recount was requested of them were valid, they could have possibly overcome the 3,010 and the margin between the candidates was 0.5% or less, the vote margin held by . state reimbursed the counties for the cost of conducting the One hundred counties began their canvasses on Friday, No- recount using the same ballot counting method as was origi- vember 8, and five began on the following Monday. Some de- nally used, as Biggs had requested in 103 counties. This be- layed completion of their canvasses until Tuesday because of came moot when the canvassed margin grew to 0.523%. If the the Veterans Day holiday on Monday, November 11. margin had remained less than 0.5%, Biggs would have been The Secretary of State requested each county election of- liable only for the costs of the hand recounts in Sedgwick and ficer to report the results of their canvass as soon as the canvass Shawnee counties. was completed. When the results were finalized early Tuesday The Kline-Biggs race for Attorney General was one of the afternoon, November 12, Kline had 412,686 votes to Biggs’ closest statewide races in the past 15 years in Kansas. In the 408,390, a margin of 4,296, a gain of 1,286 in the margin be- 1990 Attorney General race, Republican Bob Stephan received tween the candidates. 386,989 votes to Democrat Bert Cantwell’s 382,691, a differ- Because Attorney General is a state office, the results were ence of 4,298, or 0.56 %. Also in 1990, in the race for state not considered official until the meeting of the state board of Commissioner of Insurance, Republican Ron Todd received canvassers at the end of November. 378,552 votes to Democrat Paul Feleciano’s 373,804, a differ- Candidate Chris Biggs filed an official request for a recount ence of 4,748, or 0.63 %.

Cleveland’s Choice—a vanilla cream candy named after Presi- Ensley’s Election Eatin’s dent Grover Cleveland; Susan B. Anthony’s Cream Biscuits with Cheese; U.S. Senate Bean Soup—similar to that served in ur own Elizabeth (Libby) Ensley, Shawnee County election the U.S. Senate cafeteria in Washington, D.C.; Early Morning Ocommissioner, was featured in a October 30 story in the To- Egg Casserole—emphasis on “early”—make it the night be- peka Capital-Journal for her election day recipes. Entitled fore; and Sugar Cookies shaped like the Statue of Liberty. “Pollworkers’ Delight,” the story focused on the buffet she Ensley says her research indicates that election day food is a maintains in her office throughout election day for office staff custom dating back to the early days of American nationhood. and poll workers to enjoy. Election day was an event, and candidates and political parties Consider these enticing samples: Election Cake—modeled provided voters with food and strong drink outside the polls. on the famous Hartford Election Cake; Board Worker Salad— “That became a problem, and now we have laws about that,” invented by Sara Hischke, an election board worker; Patriotic Ensley said. Anyone wishing to try the recipes can get them Pie—containing mincemeat and that all-American food, apples; from Libby.

4 Canvassing Kansas Election Standards Pass First Big Test T he Kansas Election Standards have now been in use for their eral, when it became apparent there was a chance of a state- first major primary and general elections. All reports received wide recount, members of the campaigns and both political to date indicate that the Standards are a success in their main parties used passages from the Standards dealing with recounts, goals of providing guidelines to county election officers and canvassing, authorized poll agents and provisional ballots in others involved in the electoral process, and in promoting state- preparing for their activities immediately after election day. wide consistency and uniformity of procedures. Both campaigns appointed poll agents and attorneys to cover The Standards were developed by the office of the Secretary as many of the county canvasses as possible to observe the of State and a task force of nine county election officers. They proceedings and ensure that provisional ballots were handled were formally adopted by the Kansas County Clerks and Elec- appropriately and their candidates received all the legal votes tion Officials Association on May 9, 2002 (see Canvassing to which they were entitled. Kansas, June 2002, p. 7). This created more interest than normal in the county can- Although it was obvious that the 2002 primary and general vasses, and more attendance, given the fact that county can- elections would be the first test of the Standards, little was it vasses are often conducted with no observers. known how extensively they would be studied and applied. They Greater attention to procedures in ballot counting and can- received a true trial by fire in the first election after they were vassing since the 2000 election, plus adoption of the Election adopted. Standards, have greatly increased the level of consistency among First, there were several significant write-in campaigns for Kansas counties. state offices. The districts involved covered 62 counties, and There are still areas for improvement, but great strides have the write-in candidates’ campaigns obtained and used excerpts been taken. The involvement of so many more people this year from the standards on the topics of casting write-in votes, using as observers and agents will undoubtedly point up areas where write-in stickers, and determining voter intent in counting write- more improvement is needed, and very likely there will be leg- in votes. islation proposed from various sources to address vague areas Second, during the exceedingly close race for Attorney Gen- of the law that give rise to inconsistencies. Thornburgh Sued by Natural Law Party S ecretary of State Ron Thornburgh was sued in federal court many states passed laws prohibiting multiple nominations so a by the Natural Law Party of Kansas and the American Civil candidate’s name would not appear on the ballot more than Liberties Union of Atlanta, Georgia. The suit, Natural Law once. Kansas took it one step further, limiting party names to Party of Kansas v. Thornburgh, was filed on August 22, 2002 one word besides the word party to prevent separate parties in federal district court in Kansas City, Kansas. Thornburgh from fusing together to support a single candidate. was represented by attorneys in the office of Kansas Attorney Secretary of State Thornburgh did not strenuously fight the General Carla Stovall. Natural Law/ACLU lawsuit, reasoning that the courts probably The Natural Law Party is not officially recognized in Kan- would rule in favor of the plaintiffs due to the restrictive nature sas, and the lawsuit was not filed seeking court-ordered recog- of the statute in question. He agreed to a temporary injunction, nition. Rather, the complaint was that one of the state statutes issued by the court on October 7, enjoining him from enforcing governing the party recognition procedure was unconstitutional. the two-word limit on party names in K.S.A. 25-304. The statute, K.S.A. 25-304, requires that political parties’ names Thornburgh agreed to propose legislation to the Kansas Leg- be limited to two words, one of which is the word party. Thus, islature in 2003 to remove this provision from the law. Plain- the name “Natural Law Party” would not be allowed because it tiffs agreed to assist in the effort to pass the legislation. contains three words. The Natural Law Party, operating out of Fairfield, Iowa, filed Although records are incomplete, research into the back- a petition with the Secretary of State’s office on April 3, 2000 ground of this statute indicates two possible reasons for the seeking official party recognition in Kansas. The petition was two-word limit on party names: reviewed by the various county election officers, but it was ruled (1) It preserves ballot space. insufficient by the Secretary of State for the lack of an adequate (2) It prevents multiple nominations for the same candidate number of valid signatures. and prevents the fusion of separate political parties into one Thornburgh’s office considers the filing of the lawsuit to be organization. an indication that the party intends to file a new petition seek- The statute dates to 1904 after William Jennings Bryan had ing official recognition, possibly before the 2004 election. received nominations of two parties for president. After that,

December 2002 5 Six Counties Produce Spanish Voting Materials S ix counties in southwest Kansas— To accomplish these goals, the county trators, representatives from the Depart- Finney, Ford, Grant, Haskell, Kearny and election officers were required to pursue ment of Justice, and KACHA. Seward—have completed their first ma- an aggressive community outreach cam- Two planning meetings were held in jor election with Spanish ballots, voting paign. They identified Spanish media out- southwest Kansas during the project: the materials and oral language assistance for lets, including newspapers, radio and tele- first in Liberal on August 22, and the sec- their Hispanic voters. vision stations, and numerous Hispanic ond in Dodge City on October 29. Nu- The county clerks in these counties groups that could help spread the word merous phone calls, faxes and emails were notified by a letter from the U.S. of the campaign and identify possible were exchanged during the three-month Department of Justice on July 26, 2002 translators to work on election day. High planning period to keep the project mov- that their counties were required to par- schools and community colleges were ing forward. ticipate based on the results of the 2000 contacted to provide bilingual poll work- Once a county is identified by the cen- U.S. Census (see Canvassing Kansas, ers. Churches and major employers were sus and required to conduct bilingual September 2002, p. 1). helpful in disseminating information elections, the rules are in place for all Because July 26 was less than two through newsletters and bulletin board elections conducted in that jurisdiction. weeks before the August 6 primary elec- postings. Failure to do so would most likely result tion, the counties were unable to build a The Kansas Advisory Committee on in a federal lawsuit filed by the Depart- complete program of compliance for the Hispanic Affairs, based in Topeka, pro- ment of Justice. Based on the demograph- primary, but full compliance was required vided valuable assistance in the form of ics of recent years in Kansas, it is pos- for the November 5 general election. translating ballots and voting materials sible that additional counties will be The three main components of the pro- and recruiting bilingual workers and trans- added to the list after the 2010 census. gram are to provide: lators. The KACHA executive director, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh (1) bilingual ballots with everything Tina DeLaRosa, and southwest regional wishes to commend the following county that normally appears on the ballot in representative Robert DeLeon were in- election officers and their staffs for their English also printed beside or below it in strumental in the success of the program. efforts in successfully complying with the Spanish, DeLeon traveled extensively throughout various requirements of this new duty: (2) all voting materials translated into the six counties to find Hispanic commu- Carol Brown, Finney County; Vicki Spanish, including newspaper publica- nity contacts and translators. DeLeon also Wells, Ford County; Linda McHenry, tions, outreach materials, Voter’s Rights attended several of the training sessions Grant County; Sharon Hinkle, Haskell and Responsibilities posters, voter regis- for supervising judges to explain the pur- County; Jana Swank, Kearny County; tration forms, and ballot application pose behind the program and to provide Stacia Long, Seward County. forms, and sensitivity training. Thornburgh also extends his apprecia- (3) paid translators to give oral lan- The Secretary of State’s office helped tion to Tina DeLaRosa and Robert guage assistance to voters at polling coordinate the various groups involved: DeLeon of KACHA for their efforts. places on election day, during advance the six county election officers and their voting, and during voter registration. commissioners, counselors and adminis- Clarification of Voter History on Registration File I t takes constant effort to maintain the voter registration da- The policy we want to follow is to include all voters who tabase. Each county election officer must devote a certain submitted ballots at a given election. It is the same as voter amount of office time and resources to keeping the registry up turnout. to date and accurate, and considerable effort is made by the Thus, an entry should be made in the voter history field for Secretary of State’s office in maintaining the statewide file. a voter who: Questions concerning voter history on the file have arisen re- - voted at the polling place on election day cently, partly due to programming changes made in the past - submitted an advance ballot, either by mail or in person few years (inactive and suspended voters, address restriction) - cast a provisional ballot, even if it was ultimately not and partly due to misunderstandings based on inadequate com- counted munication from the SOS office. - cast a ballot that was eventually voided. The recent questions about voter history concern exactly what Voter history should not include a voter who applied for an should be included: When should an entry be made in a voter’s advance ballot but did not return it. history records? Should advance ballot applicants who do not Enhancements to the statewide centralized voter registra- return their ballots be included? Should voters who cast in- tion file (CVR) will be required by the recently passed federal valid ballots be included? Please see History, page 3 6 Canvassing Kansas