Canvassing Kansas
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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 SECRETARY OF STATE Dear *riends: December has been a busy month for the secretary of states office! In addition to traditional holiday activities and year end work, many employees have put in hundreds of hours coordinating the Midwest Election Officials Conference, the Election Consolidation Task *orce meeting and preparing for the upcom- ing legislative session. While many of you enjoyed MEOC, you may not be aware of all the planning that took place to coordinate the event. Although we were working with three other states, Kansas had special responsibilities because of our close proximity to Kansas City. I would like to publicly thank several staff members who made the 1997 MEOC possible: Brad Bryant, Nancy Bryant, Janet Chubb, Tammy Dishman, Randy *oster, Kevin Gaskin, Teresa Keating, Jan Sachs and Raylene Wallace. Based on the feedback we have received, the conference was an overwhelming success in large part due to their efforts and those of staff in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. A few days after MEOC, our office began preparing for the first meeting of the Election Consolidation Task *orce. The Task *orce is looking at whether or not Kansas has too many opportunities for elections. Cur- rently, there are more than 3,000 government entities with the authority to call a special election. I believe we may be able to save money, decrease voter confusion and fatigue and increase turnout if there are specific dates throughout the year on which an election may be called. The Task *orce met at Wichita State University, Wednesday, December 17, and discussed the benefits and potential obstacles to election consolidation. It was agreed that the issue deserves further study, and the Task *orce will meet again sometime in *ebruary. *ollowing that meeting, we will hold several public forums throughout the state to seek input from citizens and representatives of local government. (We will be working with county election officers to coordinate many of these meetings.) The Task *orce comprises representatives from state and local government, the Kansas Legislature, Kansas media, Kansas educators, county election officials and the general public. The Task *orce hopes to complete its work by summer 1998. Its hard to believe another year has come and gone. We enjoyed our association with you in 1997 and wish you all the best this holiday season and throughout the new year.