Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh Canvassing Kansas

An update on election news in Kansas December 1997

Third MEOC enjoyable and valuable THIS IS YOUR DELAYED ISSUE O CANVASSING he third Midwest Election addition to approximately 10 KANSAS! TOfficials Conference was held speakers. Kansas was the leading Dec. 7-10, 1997, at the Hyatt state in attendance with 82 county he newsletter is usually Regency Crown Center in Kansas election officers and staff registered Tscheduled for distribution City, Mo. The event was hosted by at MEOC. Some county election early in March, June, Septem- the Secretaries of State in the four- officers doubled as speakers in ber and December. This issue state area: Paul Pate, Iowa; Ron breakout sessions. There were was delayed to include the wrap-up of the Midwest Thornburgh, Kansas; Rebecca approximately 20 staff members Election Officials Conference. (Bekki) McDowell Cook, Missouri; from the four Secretary of State and Scott Moore, Nebraska. The offices attending and helping run first two MEOCs were held in the conference. Kansas City in December 1989 and Participants heard the following improving your December 1991. presentations: voter outreach program, presented Approximately 225 county • Looking Under Rocks—Ideas for by county election officers from the election officers and their employ- recruiting, training and keeping four-state area who have had proven ees attended the 1997 MEOC, in good election board workers, results, including Connie Schmidt, presented by county election election commissioner in Johnson officers. County, Kansas. • Managing Your Media Message— • It’s in the Mail—Strategies Canvassing Kansas How to benefit from your dealings provided by U.S. Postal Service IN THIS ISSUE with the media—presented by employees on how to use postal representatives of the radio, print regulations to your advantage and and TV media. how to improve efficiency of Change in NVRA confirmation • Swimming with Sharks—How to mailings to cut costs. mailing procedure...... 2 carry out your duties and minimize • Smooth Sailing in the Office A note from the Secretary...... 3 the risk of legal entanglements, Ocean—How to increase office Year 2000 problem—ruin or lawsuits and court challenges, efficiency and save time and ruse?...... 4 presented by prosecutors and staff money. Presented by county Electronic reporting to be from area Attorney General offices. election officers in the four-state advanced in 1998...... 5 • Houston, We Have a Problem—A area, including Pam Meadows of Reminders...... 5 summary of the latest in election Edwards County, Kansas. Voter registration increases technology—what’s available, • Stressed Out—Survival strategies in 1997 as expected...... 6 what’s on the horizon, and how to for avoiding, minimizing or just New county clerks in Smith deal with electronic glitches. coping with stress, presented by Dr. and Scott county...... 6 Seminar conducted by Penelope Edward Hunter, a psychologist at Volunteer claims money at Bonsall of the Federal Election the University of Kansas Medical fair...... 6 Center and Doug Lewis of The Center. Election Center. Continued on page 4 • Selling Democracy—Ideas for Canvassing Kansas Page 1 Change in NVRA confirmation mailing procedure Canvassing Kansas Published by the office of he Secretary of State's office notice, the CEO simply finalizes the Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh has received information from appropriate change in the registra- State Capitol, 2nd *loor T 300 SW 10th Street the Federal Election Commission tion records and files the paperwork. Topeka, KS 66612-1594 indicating a change in the way No other action is required. Under (785) 296-4564 county election officers may the NVRA and state law, if the voter initiate purge procedures on certain fails to return the confirmation EDITOR Chuck Knapp registered voters after sending notice sent in response to an appar- confirmation mailings. This new ent out-of-county address change LAYOUT AND DESIGN information will make it easier to and subsequently misses two general Mindy Miller purge some inactive voters’ names elections, the CEO could remove the in certain situations. voter’s name from the registration COPY EDITORS Barb Nemec The National Voter Registration list. Nancy Reddy Act (NVRA) requires the state to If the evidence indicates an conduct a systematic registration 3 apparent address change within CONTRIBUTING WRITERS list maintenance program. The the county, the CEO changes the Brad Bryant Kevin Gaskin program in use in Kansas is the voter’s registration record before Randy *oster U.S. Postal Service’s National sending the notice. If the voter returns Change of Address (NCOA) the notice, the change is confirmed program. and therefore final. If the voter does If you have any suggestions or com- The NVRA “Guide for County not return the notice, the CEO is not ments about this or future issues, please call Chuck Knapp at (785) 296-1864. Election Officers,” supplied by the instructed to remove the voter’s name. Secretary of State’s office in In effect, you never initiate purge February 1996, contains instruc- procedures unless the evidence Copyright © 1997 Kansas Secretary of State tions for dealing with apparent indicates a move out of the county. This publication may be duplicated for changes of address. To review the It had been our understanding informational purposes only. No written process, please note: that purge proceedings could only be permission is required with the exception of CEOs are instructed to mail a initiated after a confirmation notice articles or information attributed to a source other than the office of the Kansas Secretary 1 confirmation notice to a voter was mailed due to evidence that the of State. any time the CEO receives evi- voter had moved out of county, and dence of an address change from a not in cases where a confirmation proves not to be the case and the source other than the voter. Such notice was mailed because the post voter shows up at the next election, evidence includes: election-related office returned some other mailing the voter can reregister and vote a mail returned by the post office, as "undeliverable" or "forwarding provisional ballot. information from the NCOA, or order expired." A further change in our under- possibly a different address listed What has changed? standing of the confirmation notice by a voter on a petition or other Now we have been told that the and purge rules is that the U.S. document. purge procedure (confirmation Justice Department has approved The confirmation notice is a notice/no response/wait two elec- the “no contact” purge. This means 2 first-class, forwardable mail tions/purge) can be initiated when: that if a voter has not voted or had piece with return postage paid sent • the CEO receives evidence of an any contact with the election office when there is evidence of an address change, either in-county for three years, the CEO may address change. Many CEOs have or out-of-county, or initiate the process of mailing a signed on to use the Secretary of • the post office returns a mailing as confirmation notice and purging if State’s business reply permit to undeliverable or forwarding order the notice is returned undeliverable save the annual application fee. If expired. or if the voter receives it, fails to the voter returns the confirmation In effect, the CEO presumes the respond and misses the next two voter moved out of the county. If that general elections. Page 2 Canvassing Kansas RON THORNBURGH Dear *riends: SECRETARY OF STATE

December has been a busy m activities and year end w onth for the secretary of Election O ork, m state’s office! In fficials C any employees have put in hundreds of hours coordinating the M ing legislative session.onference, the Election C addition to traditional holiday onsolidation Task *orce m idw While m eeting and preparing est any of you enjoyed M for the upcom the event. A EO - lthough w C, you may not be aw our close proxim e were working w are of all the planning that took place to coordinate ity to K ith three other states, K MEO ansas C C possible: B ity. I would like to publicly ansas had special responsibilities because of Teresa K rad Bryant, N eating, Jan Sachs and Rancy Bryant, Janet C thank several staff m was an overw hubb, Tam embers w helm aylene Wallace. B my Dishm ho made the 1997 Missouri. ing success in large part ased on the feedback wan, Randy *oster, K due to their efforts and e have received, the evinconference Gaskin, those of staff in Iow A few days after M a, Nebraska and *orce. The Task *orceEO Cis, lookingour office at wbegan preparing rently, there are m for the first m ore than 3,000 governmhether or not K eeting of the Election C we may be able to save m ansas has too m ent entities w any opportunities for elections.onsolidation C Task dates throughout the year ononey, w decrease voter confusionith and the fatigue authority and to increase call a special turnout election. if there areI believe specific hich an election m ur- The Task *orce m ay be called. potential obstacles etto at election Wichita consolidation. State U It w niversity, W *orce w ednesday, D ill meet again som ecember 17, and discussed the benefits and throughout the state to seeketim inpute in from *ebruary. *ollowas agreed that the issue deserves further study, and the Task w ing that m orking with county election officers citizens and representativeseeting, of local w governm representatives from e will hold several public forum to coordinate m county election officials state and and the local general governm public. The Taskany *orceof these hopes m to com ent. (W s eetings.) The Task *orcee comwill be ent, the Kansas Legislature, K ansas m prises It’s hard to believe another year has com edia, Kansas educators, you all the best this holiday plete its w e and gone. W ork by sum season and throughout the newe enjoyed our association w mer 1998. Sincerely, year. ith you in 1997 and w ish

RO N THORNB Secretary of StateURGH

Canvassing Kansas Page 3 MEOC Continued from page 1 Year 2000 problem-- General sessions and lunches featured the following speakers: Nancy ruin or ruse? Stewart of the U.S. Justice Department speaking on election fraud; Profes- sors Noel Pugach and Ted Kachel portraying Harry Truman and Winston here is trouble brewing in the Churchill. Tnot so distant future. The trouble The banquet on Tuesday night featured a hilarious routine by Mark has to do with the way computers Mayfield followed by the keynote speech by Bill Grigsby, longtime sports use dates. Simply put, it boils down announcer and member of the Kansas City Chiefs' radio broadcast team. to two digits. Grigsby’s speech was filled with humor, anecdotes from his long career in Dates in computer programs had sports and an underlying message recognizing the importance of election a standard date format of DD/MM/ officials in supporting the democratic system we all enjoy in this country. YY (where DD=day, MM = month The final general session on Wednesday morning featured a humorous and YY equals the last two digits of and inspirational message from Suzie Humphreys of Dallas, Texas. the year). In 1999, January 1 will be Nine companies operated vendor exhibit booths to give participants an written as 01/01/99 and in 2000, opportunity to see their latest offerings: January 1 will be written as 01/01/ 00. Your computer system won't • Election Systems and Software "know" what century it is. of Omaha, Nebraska (formerly How did this happen? The date EOC hosts would like to thank American Information Systems) programming convention was Mthe following companies for their • developed when computers had very support of the conference: Global Election Systems, Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas small memory capacity and even the memory saved by using two digits • Hoechst Marion Roussell, Inc. of • Kansas City, Missouri Douglas Election Equipment of was very significant. Also, computer • Synetics Corporation of Wakefield, Crete, Nebraska programmers never thought the Massachusetts • applications they were writing years • Greater Kansas City Election Election Data Services, Inc. of Officers Washington, D.C. ago would still be in use today. • Dunn & Bradstreet Information of The impact on businesses, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • Fidlar & Chambers Company of services and institutions that don't • West Publishing Company of Davenport, Iowa meet the century-rollover deadline is Eagan, Minnesota unpredictable and incalculable. • Missouri Press Services, Inc. • MicroVote Corporation of • Nebraska Press Advertising Service Indianapolis, Indiana There are thousands of clock- • Missouri A6L-CIO dependent electronics used for • Nebraska A6L-CIO • Sequoia Pacific of Jamestown, financial services, insurance, retail- • Missouri National Education New York ing, building and plant management; Association and every operation will have to • Nebraska Education Association • Unisys Corporation of • Lockwood Company of Atchison, Sacramento, California analyze and fix the problem. Kansas Opinions vary greatly on the • Nebraska Bankers Association • Cover One of Dallas, Texas impact of the Year 2000. Some • McCallie Associates Inc. of Bellevue, experts think that the entire millen- Nebraska The weather didn’t always nium problem has been overblown, cooperate during the conference; while others are predicting near heavy snowfall Sunday and apocalyptic consequences. Logically Monday kept some participants from reaching the hotel on time and even enough, the very people who seem to forced a few cancellations, but most of those who managed to be there be screaming the loudest are those reported the conference was enjoyable and valuable. that have created a cottage industry There is no definite schedule for future MEOCs, but if and when they of selling solutions for the problem. are planned, an invitation will go out to every county election officer. The How will the Year 2000 problem goal of this and other MEOCs has been to bring a national-quality election affect you? Discuss the issue with conference to the region, enabling some people to attend who might lack your data processing people or your the time or travel budget to go to other conferences of this type. consultant or vendor who handles your computer programming needs. Page 4 Canvassing Kansas Electronic reporting to be advanced in 1998 e have discussed in this newsletter for the past Wcouple of years our plan to gradually increase REMINDERS the capability to exchange information with county emember these important dates when election officers. In the past year we have had several county election officers are to report to counties send their central voter registration to our R the Secretary of State: computer via the Internet. This summer and fall we have established e-mail connections with 25 CEOs ✔ The next central voter registration file is who already due as soon as possible after January 1, had Internet Now we're working 1998, and no later than January 15 (see access, and K.A.R. 7-23-13). If you have Internet capa- toward the next step: we’ve con- bility, you may arrange to send your file election night tabulation. ducted tests of electronically. Just contact the elections those CEOs’ division at (785) 296-4561 or data processing ability to access a computer version of the NVRA at (785) 296-6271 if you’re interested. county report form and make reports via the Internet. We invite all CEOs who have Internet access to ✔ The next NVRA report is due as soon as make their official NVRA report in January electroni- possible after January 1, 1998, and not cally; just call us and we’ll tell you the Internet later than January 15 (see K.A.R. 7-38-1(b) address where you can find the form. You’ll see that it and (c)). As mentioned above, if you have looks just like the regular paper version of the NVRA Internet capability, you may arrange to make report form that everyone’s familiar with. your report electronically. Just call one of the Now we’re working toward the next step: election numbers listed above or visit our web server night tabulation. We plan to design an electronic form site and we’ll tell you how to access the showing the 1998 primary and general election races, electronic version of the NVRA report form, parties and candidates. Any CEO could dial up the and you’ll be on your way! address from their computer and enter vote totals when convenient. We’ll be conducting a test of this ✔ Corporate hog and dairy farming election electronic election night tabulation in the next few results must be reported... There has been months, and if everything works we’ll have a couple quite a bit of electoral activity the past couple dozen CEOs reporting unofficial election-night vote of years on corporate farming, especially hog totals by computer and saving phone calls and faxes. farming. A number of counties, particularly So far this has been accomplished in-house with in western Kansas, have established corporate existing personnel and resources. It will be interesting farming either through county commissioner to see how far we can take it without spending money. resolution or the petition/election process. Watch this newsletter and other communications from Some have also rescinded it, which usually our office for updates. If you want to hear more about involves a petition and election. According to it or sign up to participate, give us a call. K.S.A. 17-5908(c) and (d), the county election officer must report the results of such elections to the Secretary of State for publica- SOS web server site tion in the Kansas Register. There are people who ask to see the results, and we have Our web server site for electronic reporting is discovered some of the results have not been http://165.201.68.87 reported. If you have had a corporate farming County election officers with Internet access who wish election and have not reported, please do so to make their NVRA reports electronically may visit as soon as possible. If you’re unsure whether this site for instructions. See "Reminders" on this page. you’ve reported, give us a call and we’ll get you up to date.

Canvassing Kansas Page 5 Voter registration increases in 1997 as expected

he voter registration figures Thave been compiled based on VOTER REGISTRATION the numbers certified by the county 1996 % 1997 % election officers to the Secretary of State as of August 1, 1997. These Total registered voters 1,436,418 -- 1,454,314 -- figures will be in use for most of Democrats 423,595 29 424,925 29 next year’s election season until new numbers are certified in late Republicans 650,566 45 651,548 45 July 1998. The current figures are Libertarians 9,829 0.6 9,703 0.6 the basis for computing candidate Reform 936 0.06 1,196 0.08 petition requirements for 1998. The Unaffiliated 351,492 24 366,942 25 following table compares the August 1, 1997, totals to the figures the past, the off-year levels have levels were expected to rise due to that were in effect for the general been lower than election years due the increased voter registration election in November 1996. to purges, changes of address and opportunities; and purging was 1996 was a presidential election other factors. With the advent of the more limited, leading to an expec- year, which has historically pro- state motor-voter program in 1994 tation of overall increased registra- duced higher voter registration and the National Voter Registration tion levels, which the above figures levels than other election years. In Act in 1996 in Kansas, registration bear out.

New county clerks in Smith Volunteer claims money and Scott counties at state fair ela Rogers is the new County Clerk in Smith County. She he Secretary of State's office, Lstarted working in the clerk's office in March 1996. Prior to that Twith additional staff from she worked for 21 years at the Scribner-Boogaarts warehouse. Lela various counties, participated in the and her husband Jim, a meat inspector for the Federal USDA, also 1997 Kansas State Fair in ran a small grocery store for seven years. They have one son, Mike, a Hutchinson. Held Sept. 5-14, 1997, school teacher in Smith Center, who is married to a school teacher. the state fair entertained 357,742 Mike and his wife have two boys, six and two years old, and another people. child is due in February. Lela says when she is not playing with the The Secretary of State, along grandchildren she enjoys walking and working on crafts. Lela with many other state agencies, succeeds Teri Van Wey who now works for Kansas State University provided useful information to in Salina. fairgoers. In fact, a volunteer from December 29, 1997, will be the first day on the job for recently the Shawnee County Election appointed Scott County Clerk Pamela J. Faurot. Pam has been the Office, Mary Jane Fleenor, was able financial secretary at Scott City High School for the last nine years. to claim money from the State Before starting at the high school she worked for Kennedy and Coe Treasurer's booth for her grand- accounting firm. Pam's husband, Darrel, is a carpenter and house daughter. The money was claimed builder. They have two sons, Brent and Kevin. Brent and his wife through the unclaimed property Angie have a 16-month-old daughter named Kristy. Kevin is a program. freshman at Scott City High School. When she's not working, Pam As many of you know, this was can be found fishing, doing yard work or watching the Colorado our eleventh year at the state fair. Rockies play baseball. We are looking forward to seeing you there next year as well.

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