The IRS updates a file with all the political organization filings every Sunday morning, and a large, complicated file can be downloaded with all the updates and searched.

An IRS 8871 form indicates whether an organization will file disclosure reports in a particular state, or if it is a “527 PAC” filing 8872 forms with the IRS.

I recently reviewed an IRS political organization disclosure file looking for new political organizations since 2024 saying they would file reports in Kansas, but with out-of-state addresses. Two organizations in this article were found on that IRS list. A third out-of-state PAC was found while researching one of those PACs.

There may be other Kansas PACs with out-of-state addresses, which will be explored in a future article about all Kansas PAC filings from Jan. 2026.

Kansas does not provide a single list of all PACs with their addresses.

Massachusetts

Take Back Kansas Action PAC stood out in the IRS list because of its Massachusetts address.

There were media reports about this organization from November last year.

The Sunflower State Journal’s Brad Cooper reported in November that Senate President Ty Masterson was working with a new “national campaign team with Trump ties” and a new organization, Take Back Kansas.

About the same time the Washington Examiner reported Trumpworld gets behind Ty Masterson in Kansas governor’s race:

“Several top operatives from Trump’s 2024 political orbit, including veterans of MAGA Inc., the primary super PAC that powered the president’s reelection campaign, are forming outside groups to support Masterson, according to sources familiar with the effort. The new entities are Take Back Kansas and Take Back Kansas Action, its affiliated political arm.”

Massachusetts-based Take Back Kansas Action filed an IRS 8871 form on Dec. 1, 2025, the same day the PAC’s Statement of Organization was filed in Kansas indicating the PAC’s purpose was to support Ty Masterson for Governor.

The IRS 8871, which was not filed in Kansas, gave some additional names for PAC officers, including Daniel Day, from Andover. The connections among these officers are not clear.

A Jan. 10, 2026 PAC campaign finance filing By Take Back Kansas Action PAC shows it received $50,000 from Virginia-based GOPAC Election Fund in 2025. GOPAC was the only contributor in that report.

GOPAC Election Fund is a hybrid FEC PAC affiliated with GOPAC (a 527 PAC), a long-standing Republican organization founded in 1978 focused on training and electing a “farm team” of GOP candidates at state and federal levels.

Koch Industries has provided financial support to GOPAC/GOPAC Election Fund as part of its wider pattern of backing Republican organizations.

Open Secrets shows GOPAC (but not the GOPAC Election Fund) received $100,000 from Koch Industries in the 2024 election cycle.

Alabama

In IRS 8871 filing from Aug. 29, 2025: “Prairie Patriot PAC is organized and primarily operated for the purpose of accepting contributions and making expenditures to influence the election of candidates to state office in Kansas.”

While this form was filed with the IRS, the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission PAC page does not show an entry for Prairie Patriot PAC.

But the Kansas Secretary of State’s campaign finance viewer page shows an amended filing by Prairie Patriot PAC on Sept 3, 2025 with new name Kansas Comeback PAC, which is listed as a PAC on the KPDC PAC page.

In Statement of Organization for Kansas Comeback PAC on Sept 3, 2025: “Kansas Comeback PAC is a political committee organized to ensure principled, conservative leadership for Kansas by accepting contributions and making independent expenditures relative to one or more candidates for statewide office.”

In its Jan 2026 Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report, Kansas Comeback PAC reported raising nearly $274K.

The Kansas Comeback PAC report shows fifteen contributions from six states:

• Texas (6, $117,500)

• Kansas (3, $110,104)

• California (2, $17,500)

• Missouri (2, $16,769)

• Florida (1, $7,000)

• Georgia (1, $5,000),

So, $163,769 was from out-of-state, and only $110,104 was from Kansas.

The largest contributor to Kansas Comeback was $100,000 from “Cutler” at PO Box 7588, Overland Park with no occupation given.

Georgia

A different filing with the KPDC shows this Overland Park PO Box 7588 is the address of Robert Cutler, a CEO of Marketing, who was the only donor to a Georgia-based Kansas PAC in a Jan. 2025, Stand for Change PAC (renamed to Stand for Justice PAC).

Related

Masterson assembles national campaign team with Trump ties, Brad Cooper, Sunflower State Journal, Nov. 11, 2025.

Trumpworld gets behind Ty Masterson in Kansas governor’s race, Samantha-Jo Roth, Washington Examiner, Nov. 11, 2025.

These nonprofits sent about 161,000 voter registration forms, 216,000 advance ballot applications, and nearly 1.2 million get-out-the-vote pieces to Kansans in the weeks before the 2022 election.

VPC/CVI revealed their 2022 numbers online using “red boxes,” which may have been a way of openly sharing what the were doing with campaigns and parties.

VPC/CVI mailing numbers for 2024 are not known and were not found online.

“New American Majority” targeted

The VPC and CVI websites indicate their focus is the “New American Majority,” which consists of “young people, people of color and unmarried women.”

These groups are among the strongest Democratic-leaning segments of US registered voters according to Pew Research.

In a March 12 email to both Kansas and Johnson County election officials, VPC president, Lionel Dripps, gave a breakdown with numbers for their planned mailing to 100 of the 105 Kansas counties.

Dripps gave an overview of their targeting.

Our voter registration mailing will be targeted to reach unregistered young people, voters who have recently moved and have not re-registered or updated their voter registration records (according to the latest available information), and others who are unregistered in the voting eligible population.

In this first wave there were no mailings planned for Comanche, Greeley, Haskell, McPherson, Meade or Morton counties.

Four of the counties not receiving any mailings have fewer than 10% Democratic registered voters.

Top counties

Over 90% of the 16,497 mailers will be delivered to 21 counties.

Larger counties receive more mailings, but to better understand the numbers of VPC pieces mailed to a county, let’s explore correlations between several factors, including sex and political party using data from a voter registration file.

Correlation analysis

A “correlation coefficient” is a score that tells how much two things are connected or “move together.” It’s a number between -1 and +1, that could be called a “friendship” score: +1 for perfect buddies, 0 for total strangers, and -1 for opposite of buddies.

Correlations can be computed between the 105 numbers of VPC mailed pieces and the 105 numbers of female percentage by county, or the 105 numbers for the percentage membership in a particular political party. These correlation coefficients are shown in the graphic above.

Perfect correlation. A correlation of 1.00 is a perfect match, so the VPC Pieces Mailed values have a perfect correlation with itself.

Positive correlation. A positive correlation suggests that when one value goes up, the other also goes up. The correlation value of +0.57 between VPC Pieces Mailed and the Democratic percentage values suggests a higher number of VPC pieces were sent when the Democratic percentages in a county were higher.

No relationship. A correlation of 0.0 suggests no relationship, which is roughly true with the 0.13 correlation between VPC Pieces Mailed and the percentage of United Kansas voters in each county. The membership in UK across many counties is small and looks almost random.

Negative correlation. A negative correlation suggests that when one value goes up, the other goes down. The correlations between VPC Pieces Mailed and Republican percentage values is negative (-0.48), and between VPC Pieces Mailed and male percentage is negative (-0.35).

So, VPC mailing counts tended to be lower for counties that were more Republican, and higher for counties that were more Democratic by percentage.

To a lesser degree, VPC mailing counts tended to be higher to counties with a higher percent of females, and lower to counties that were a higher percentage male.

Nonpartisan?

The correlation analysis suggests VPC Pieces Mailed to “young people, people of color and unmarried women” would be consistent with ignoring males and ignoring Republicans.

A “nonpartisan” nonprofit can yield very nonpartisan results, which Parker Thayer addressed in his article: How Charities Secretly Help Win Elections, Capital Research Center, Aug. 15, 2023.

Using sophisticated voter databases and Democrat-aligned microtargeting firms, charities like the Voter Participation Center have targeted “nonpartisan” voter registration drives toward demographics and localities where people vote strongly for Democrats. As liberal reporter Sasha Issenberg wrote of the Voter Participation Center in his widely praised 2012 book, Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, “Even though the group was officially nonpartisan, for tax purposes, there was no secret that the goal of all its efforts was to generate new votes for Democrats.”

Data

Explore the data yourself by downloading the Excel file below.

VPC Mailer Stats for March 2026 in Kansas

27.5KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

Kansas voter data from the Secretary of State on Jan. 9, 2026 was used to create the gender/party counts and percentages by county.

Download

Related

Supervisor of Elections alerts Leon County residents to unofficial voter registration letters, WCTV, Tallahassee, FL. March 26, 2026.

Article gives details of “redboxing” apparently used by VPC/CVI to announce publicly how many mailers they sent, and when, in the 2022 election. No “red boxes” were found in 2024.

Mayday Health is the name of Mayday Medicines Inc according to their tax filing with the IRS.

After Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022, Mayday promoted “how to get abortions even where they’re banned.”

Mayday’s current IRS 990 filing indicates they expanded from promoting abortion access to include “gender affirming” care, which is why they are now putting up billboards in Kansas.

DC-based Hopewell Fund, one of the Arabella Advisor’s funds (now Sunflower Services), gave $2.35 million to Mayday Health according to Hopewell’s tax filings in 2022-2023.

Other known large donors to Mayday include Global Impact [$300K] and the Packard Foundation [$300K].

According to a Linked-In page, Mayday Health founder and executive director, Liv Raisner, served in communications positions for several presidential campaigns:

• Kamala Harris for President, 2024, head of paid digital video

• Biden-Harris Transition Team, 2020-2021, traveling digital director

• Biden for President, 2019-2020, traveling digital director

• Hillary for America, 2015-2016, communications fellow and assistant to communications director

• Vice President Joe Biden, 2013, speechwriting department

Raisner is traveling around Kansas now collecting testimonials for publication on social media.

Mayday Health pays Raisner a salary of $174K as executive director.

In 2024 the Hopewell Fund gave $860K to abortion providers in Wichita.

The Kansas Reflector’s parent organization, States Newsroom, was “incubated” by the same Hopewell Fund before they became an independent organization.

Related

What possible justification is there for the 50% increase in price? The cost to copy the data to a CD, or put the data online on Dropbox, is nowhere near the current price of $200. So, why is the price now $300?

I still object to the price increase in 2006 from $100 to $200!! The voter data already exists as part of the state election system, and is maintained by the state and county election offices. The actual cost to make a copy has always been minimal.

Why must the price be so high?

In December 2025 the Secretary of State’s office announced proposed permanent administrative regulations about prices of a number of fees, including the price for purchasing the statewide voter file, or advance voting data.

The same announcement gave a schedule for several hearings across the state for public feedback.

Sham hearing? The final public hearing about the matter was held in Topeka at the Docking State Office Building on Feb. 10, which was two days before the official publication was in the Kansas Register on Feb. 12.

This is very curious since the Kansas Register submission deadline for publication is the Thursday prior to the publication date, which would have been Feb. 5. So, the submission deadline was five days before the final hearing about the matter?

Public opinion did not matter?

The “CVR” Voter Registration Data Request form was modified on March 2 to reflect the increased price.

My objections

I was the only person to attend and speak at the final hearing in Topeka on Feb. 10.

My objections included:

• Three of the four states surrounding Kansas charge much less than the current price of $200 before being hiked to $300: Ballotpedia shows Colorado charges $50, Missouri charges $35, and there is no fee in Oklahoma for their voter files. Why do we want to “compete” with Nebraska that charges $500 along with a number of restrictions?

• The increase in the state voter file will likely have a rippling effect in many counties that will now increase their local fees.

• The increased fee can be viewed as an impediment to availability of data and an impediment to ability to analyze the data. Shouldn’t we favor more transparency, not less?

I asked about possible alternatives, but those fell on deaf ears:

• Is there a possibility of providing quarterly voter files for free for analysis, and only charging the increased fees to those requiring timely, updated data? Or specialized data requests?

• Is there a possibility of providing copies of the daily advance voting files for free after the election for study?

• Is it possible for the Secretary of State to obtain the actual list of participants in any election from all counties and making that list available to the public? A citizen can obtain such a list in one county, but it’s nearly impossible to get statewide data from all 105 counties.

We need more legislators to push for improvements in “digital transparency” in all state offices, including improvements in the transparency of elections.

Related

Availability of state voter files in all 50 states, Ballotpedia.

Most of these problems first appeared last July in the first voter file released after redistricting

The Voter Network was launched as a separate nonprofit by the Mainstream Education Foundation (now Mainstream Civic Engagement) in Jan. 2023, but it had been an internal “Be a Voter” initiative as far back as 2016.

I try to characterize how “nonpartisan” a nonprofit is by the political party affiliation and political donations of employees based on public records. I have been looking for an explanation as to why one employee of The Voter Network was not a registered voter, when their business is to register voters and they push get-out-the-vote activities.

Following the example of Sara Gonzales in Texas, on Monday I knocked on the door of the business at 6750 Antioch Rd, Suite 305G in Merriam, KS.

This was the street address of The Voter Network Foundation in their Sept. 21, 2023 IRS “determination letter” saying they had become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit effective Jan. 9, 2023. The same address has been used by progressive nonprofit, The Mainstream Coalition, for several years, which had launched The Voter Network.

The building directory was a bit confusing, since it only listed a firm, Support Kansas City, with room number 305.

A representative of Support Kansas City responded to all my questions, but it was clear they only prepare IRS 990s and other paperwork for nonprofits. So, neither The Voter Network nor Mainstream Coalition use that business address as an office.

The Voter Network’s recent IRS 990 only gives an Overland Park post office as another business address. But the 990 did give a telephone number, and I found an email address online.

On Tuesday I sent an email to Lindsay Ford asking to view materials for the H-1B visa her nonprofit sponsored in 2024. On Wednesday, I attempted to phone Ms. Ford with the same questions.

According to the US Department of Labor, there are certain documents an employer must allow the public to view about an H-1B employee. My questions to Ms. Ford focused on two documents:

• The Labor Condition Application (LCA) form,

• Documentation that notice requirements were satisfied. [An employer must provide notice of the LCA filing to protect U.S. workers and ensure transparency.]

A final question I’ve tried to ask Ms. Ford: “Could you comment on why a local citizen was not available for this position?”

Ms. Ford replied to the email late on Thursday. She said the “staff all work remotely” so there is no office to visit. She gave me a Topeka address where I “can view the records in our public access file.” I’ll eventually make that visit. There were no other responses to questions.

The Voter Network’s H-1B sponsorship

Last week I could not verify The Voter Network’s H-1B visa using an online authoritative source. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “H-1B Employer Datahub” was not working for several days last week and early this week.

However, the H-1B Employer Datahub was found to be working on Wednesday, and I was able to verify preliminary information.

The H-1B Employer Datahub shows The Voter Network was granted an H-1B visa in federal fiscal year 2024. The LCA form would provide additional information but that is not available without cooperation from Ms. Ford.

A non-government online website, h1bdata.info, says The Voter Network’s H-1B application was submitted on June 20, 2024 for a start date of July 30, 2024.

The job title was “Volunteer and Special Projects Coordinator” for a position in Lawrence with a base salary of $52,187.

Why should a non-citizen be given an H-1B visa to work on election-related matters for a nonprofit in Kansas?

Kansas H-1B visas

Fiscal Year 2026

The USCIS H-1B Employer Datahub can be used to explore other H-1B visas granted by Kansas employers (or any employer in the country).

The H-1B data for Kansas for federal fiscal year 2026 (but only Oct. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2025) can be viewed online at this time.

Fiscal Years 2024-2026

Some early comments about H-1B employers:

• The number of school districts employing H-1B visa holders was surprising.

• Johnson County, Water District No. 1 of Johnson County, and Sedgwick County each have one H-1B employee.

Panasonic Energy Corporation

The USCIS H-1B Employer Datahub shows the Panasonic Energy Corp. battery plant in DeSoto/Olathe is staffing up, and already lists six of the positions did not go to US citizens.

A third-party site, h1bgrader.com, lists eleven H-1Bs going to non-US citizens at the Panasonic plant.

Kansas Data

H-1B Visas, Kansas Employers, FY 2024, 2025, 2026 (partial)

711KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

H-1B Visas sponsored by Kansas Employers in Fiscal Years 2024, 2025, 2026 (partial) [817 rows]

Download

Put anything you find interesting about the H-1B visa employer list in the comments.

What jobs were given to H-1B visa holders that could have been given to US citizens?

Related

The Voter Network reported receiving $654K in contribution and grants in 2024 in its IRS 990 filing. Grants of $454,000 to The Voter Network have been identified from other nonprofits in their 990 filings.

Campaign against constitutional amendment

On Monday Kansas United for Impartial Courts started reviewing applications for three positions to oppose a constitutional amendment to allow the direct election of Supreme Court Judges in Kansas. View the online job postings.

The constitutional amendment referendum will be on the ballot in August.

Apparently a $12,000 per month position posted in January for the Campaign Manager has already been filled.

The online ad for the Campaign Manager listed members of the KUIC statewide coalition:

• ACLU of Kansas,

• Kansas Values Institute,

• Kansas NEA,

• Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes,

• “members of the Kansas legal community.”

Two of the positions under consideration will pay $8000/month, while a third pays $6500/month. The field director is to hire three field organizers.

Business Filing

Last year Kansas United for Impartial Courts incorporated with board members who are executive directors of the most progressive nonprofits in Kansas:

• Evan Gates from Kansas Values Institute,

• Micah Kubic from ACLU Kansas, and

• Emily Wales from Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Controversy in not new

The selection of Supreme Court judges has been controversial for more than 20 years.

Kansas is alone in its process

Kansas has a unique selection process where attorneys through the state bar association dominate the selection process.

Why should attorneys have so much power to control the courts?

ACLU leads opposition

ACLU put $200,000 in the kitty

Comments by ACLU’s Kubic

Micah Kubic, ACLU Executive Director, addressed a League of Women Voters audience at the capitol on Kansas Day, January 29, about judicial selection.

Kubic expressed concern about partisan politics being part of the proposed judicial selection change, but did not explain why so many now feel the current selection system is so partisan and biased.

In the video Kubic suggested the focus of the referendum should be on progressive “hot button” issues such as abortion, school funding, LGBT issues, and voting rights fights, instead of improvement in the process of selecting supreme court judges.

Kubic said the strategy is to “make it clear what the stakes are, and that this is a rerun of the abortion amendment in 2022.” Kubic said “we will have the infrastructure and mechanisms to do what as we did in 2022.”

Meanwhile, conservatives might want to get started on their campaign to pass the amendment.

Related

Fundraising for campaign opposing judicial amendment approaches $2 million, Brad Cooper, Sunflower State Journal, March 4, 2026.

ACLU Kansas received $350,000 in funding from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and $101,037 from the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation in 2024.

The Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation gave huge amounts to Kansas abortion providers, including $2.55 million to Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Judicial amendment campaign shapes up; outside group books nearly $1 million in ads, Brad Cooper, Sunflower State Journal, Feb. 23, 2026.

Updated Political Profile of Members of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission: Still 6 Democrats, 2 Republicans, 1 Republican for Moore, Kansas Meadowlark, Dec. 16, 2007, via The WayBack Machine

The “collective” seems to be overwhelming freedom-loving individuals.

For more than a decade, Kansas has been flooded with progressive nonprofit money in elections. Sure there is also money on the Right, but the Left is truly winning elections using nonprofit money compared to the Right.

The purpose of this article was to identify grants flowing into Kansas during the 2024 election year for groups likely working on elections as “nonpartisan” nonprofits.

The names of nonprofits giving out money, and the names of the nonprofit recipients will likely be involved in elections and voter activates this year. Keeping the names straight for these nearly three dozen groups can be challenging.

Much of the information below will be background information for future articles.

Nonprofits file tax returns with the IRS called “990s” each year. These tax returns are sometimes the only source of limited information about how a nonprofit was involved in an election.

Limitations

• Any financial reporting for nonprofits involved in elections is often delayed by a year or more to make sure few are interested in such “old” election news. So does that affect your concern?

• Many of the returns cited here were only released in Nov. 2025. There are likely other nonprofits sending money for elections/voter activities that were missed in this analysis and may be found in the future.

• There can be some double counting in the summaries, which is impossible to remove using only existing public records.

• Some of the grant recipients may not be directly involved in election/voter related activities, but received funding from nonprofits or “dark money” sources known to be very involved in elections.

Funders

Five groups of funding organizations were identified for this analysis. Four of the groups were “families” of nonprofits.

One group is an unusual combination of a Kansas PAC, Middle of the Road PAC, with the largest Kansas nonprofit involved in elections for that last decade, Kansas Values Institute.

Here’s a summary of the money flows to Kansas progressive nonprofits in 2024 from the mostly national nonprofit sources:

Only a short summary is given in each section below. Click on the link to see details.

Arabella Advisors

Arabella-managed funds gave 20 grants totaling $1.8 million to 15 Kansas nonprofits

Tides

Two Tides nonprofits gave 8 grants totaling $1 million to Kansas nonprofits

Middle of the Road / Kansas Values Institute

Transfer of nearly $1 million from Middle of the Road PAC to two Kansas nonprofits in 2024 was unusual

Kansas health foundations

Health foundations spent nearly $900K in 2024 on 17 grants related to their past IVE project

Other philanthropies

“Other” nonprofit sources gave 13 grants that totaled $4.2 million to 11 Kansas nonprofits

Grant Recipients

Here’s a list of all the progressive groups receiving funding, shown from largest to smallest amounts received.

Comments

• Many of the grant recipients worked on Kansas Health Foundation’s “Integrated Voter Engagement” project from 2017-2024, or are working with other nonprofits that have in the past.

• There is about $3.5 million in the total related to abortion advocacy or abortion services: Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Trust Women, Trust Women Foundation, Aria Medical.

• It’s unclear whether The Land Institute or Exchange Point Institute are involved in Kansas elections/voter activities. Their receipt of “dark money” is curious.

• Tailwind Partners and the JoCo Democratic Party were not grant recipients, but did receive funds from the Arabella-advised Sixteen Thirty Fund. Tailwind Partners was involved in some sort of fundraising activity. The JoCo Dem Party benefited from some sort of lobbying expenditure.

Right-leaning, conservative nonprofits?

If you are a progressive and think this article is unfair, please make specific suggestions in the comments identifying national nonprofits sending funding like shown above most years to conservative groups in Kansas, working directly or indirectly on elections and voter activities, that you think should be investigated.

Related

Kansas in the Crosshairs: Fake “Western” Way Back PAC Pours Money into 2025 Races. Thousands in 2025 Kansas Campaign Contributions -- But Still No Kansas Donors -- Mark A Year of Growth and Prosperity for the Left’s Way Back PAC. Prairie Wren, Jan 31, 2026.

Turning Those Red States Blue … the Arabella Way. The Left’s Western States Strategy … Hiding in Plain Sight, Prairie Wren, Jan. 16, 2026.

Earlier articles focused on:

• Arabella-managed funds gave 20 grants totaling $1.8 million to 15 Kansas nonprofits

• Two Tides nonprofits gave 8 grants totaling $1 million to Kansas nonprofits

• Transfer of nearly $1 million from Middle of the Road PAC to two Kansas nonprofits in 2024 was unusual

• Health foundations spent nearly $900K in 2024 on 17 grants related to their past IVE project

This article looks at large grants from four specific out-of-state nonprofits to progressive Kansas organizations.

Out-of-State Nonprofits

Four progressive out-of-state nonprofits giving to Kansas nonprofits included:

• Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

• Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

• Silicon Valley Community Foundation

• US Energy Foundation

Grants from two “other” nonprofits were included in the analysis of Middle of the Road / Kansas Values Institute and will not be discussed here:

• $150K from NEA Advocacy to Kansas Values Institute

• $185K from Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund to Kansans for Affordable Future

• $85K from Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund to Amberwave PAC

Combined these “other” nonprofit sources gave 13 grants that totaled $4.2 million to 11 Kansas progressive organizations in 2024.

Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation’s core mission is family planning, contraception, and abortion access. It has distributed billions in grants—estimated at over $4 to $8 billion total since the early 2000s, with a large share to abortion causes.

All grants from the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation in 2024 can be seen in its 990 filing:

• The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation 2024 IRS 990

The Susan Thompson Buffer Foundation gave grants to three Kansas organizations in 2024:

• $101K to ACLU Kansas, which works on voting rights protection and advocacy, as well as using lawfare to advance progressive causes and concerns through lawsuits.

• $2.55 million to Planned Parenthood Great Plains. PPGP is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing abortions across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes (PPGPV) is the affiliated 501(c)(4) political/advocacy arm. PPGP/PPGPV’s Kansas involvement is heavily focused on ballot defense of abortion, candidate endorsements/PAC support for pro-abortion office seekers, direct legislative testimony/lobbying, and voter tools/mobilization.

• $102K to Trust Women Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on abortions and “gender care,” which can result in terrible body mutilation.

The stated purpose for all grants was given as “General Operating Support” or “Program Support.”

United States Energy Foundation

U.S. Energy Foundation is public charity headquartered in San Francisco, which was founded in 1991. Its focus is on “securing a clean and equitable energy future to tackle the climate crisis” through grants for education, analysis, and public engagement on clean energy policies, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and related economic/equity issues.

All grants from the US Energy Foundation in 2024 can be seen in its 990 filing:

• US Energy Foundation 2024 IRS 990

Grants to Kansas in 2024 include:

• $175K to Climate + Energy Project, Hutchinson. CEP promotes voter engagement aimed at increasing turnout among Kansans concerned about climate and energy issues. CEP was part of the Kansas Health Foundation’s Integrated Voter Engagement project and participates with The Voter Network’s Kansas Climate CORE Voter-to-Voter Team.

• $25K to Kansas Latino Community Network, Mission. KLCN’s role in Kansas politics is primarily nonpartisan civic empowerment and advocacy. It emphasizes voter registration, education, and turnout.

• $25K to Kansas Interfaith Action, Lawrence. KIFA positions its work as faith-based and nonpartisan. Influence Watch characterizes it as left-of-center. In recent 2023 and 2024 elections KIFA hired part-time “mobilizers” and team captains to to contact at least 50 people in their personal networks—often infrequent voters—about upcoming elections, help with registration/absentee ballots, and encourage participation. KIFA received a total of $75K from nonprofit sources in 2024.

• $230K to Kansas Common Sense Fund, Topeka. KCSF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational arm of the 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, Kansas Coalition for Common Sense. KCSF focuses on developing research-based messaging to empower Kansans, advocates, nonprofit groups, community leaders, and policymakers in promoting “common sense Kansas values,” which most in Kansas label as “progressive.”

• $40K to Kansans for Affordable Future, Topeka. Kansans for an Affordable Future is most active in local elections and issues tied to energy policy, utility rates, and county commissions—especially in areas like Douglas, Sedgwick, and Wyandotte counties.
  

The Climate + Energy Project embraced Kansas Health Foundation’s “Integrated Voter Engagement Project” starting in 2017 and received significant funding from 2017 to 2024.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2002 that serves as a global philanthropic advisory, management, and fiscal sponsorship organization. RPA’s role in US politics and elections is limited to facilitating and advising on donor-supported philanthropy aimed at strengthening democracy, civic participation, and related systems. This includes nonpartisan or progressive-leaning efforts on voting access, election integrity/protection, reducing polarization, and long-term civic infrastructure.

All grants nationwide from the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in 2024 can be seen in its 990 filing:

• Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors 2024 IRS 990

The Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors made a $350,000 grant to ACLU Kansas in 2024.

ACLU Kansas received $561K from known nonprofits in 2024.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s role in politics and elections is limited to charitable grantmaking and program administration, often donor-directed. SVCF funds “movement- and power-building” initiatives, community action grants, and organizations focused on voter engagement, policy advocacy, holding elected officials accountable, and increasing participation in underrepresented groups. The controversial $328 million in “Zuckerbucks” from Mark Zuckerberg to Center for Tech and Civic Life impacting the 2020 election was through SVCF.

All grants from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2024 can be seen in its 990 filing:

• Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2024 IRS 990

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation gave a grant of $103,350 to Loud Light in Topeka.

From all nonprofit sources in 2024 Loud Light received nearly $452K in funding. Its 501(c)(4) Loud Light Civic Action received $50K.

Loud Light’s primary involvement in politics and elections centers on expanding voter access, increasing turnout (particularly among young and marginalized voters), monitoring legislation, and challenging laws it views as barriers to voting.

Related

$2.8 million was for “abortion services” in Wichita

Climate + Energy Project and Kansas Interfaith Action received several grants for Kansas Health Foundation’s “Integrated Voter Engagement” project.

“Dark Money” details for “Vote No” on Value Them Both Constitutional Amendment

But in this case, the nonprofits giving the grants are health related foundations, two from Kansas and one from Kansas City, Missouri.

Three nonprofit health care foundations spent $9 million from 2017-2024 for “Integrated Voter Engagement” across Kansas, to promote “voting” as part of healthcare.

Healthcare Foundations

While their projects are no longer labeled “integrated voter engagement,” the three health foundations continue significant spending that indirectly impacts elections.

• Wichita-based Kansas Health Foundation engages in nonpartisan civic and policy work viewed as tied to health outcomes, especially treating civic engagement as a social determinant of health. A major initiative has been funding Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) starting around 2017, focusing on voter education, registration, turnout, leadership development, and sustained advocacy/organizing.

• The REACH Healthcare Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization headquartered in Overland Park. Its mission is to advance health equity through improved health coverage and access to quality, affordable care for uninsured, medically underserved, poor, and vulnerable populations. REACH was a partner with Kansas Health Foundation in funding an Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) initiative in 2017.

• The Health Forward Foundation (formerly the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. Health Forward advocates for redistributing power through community participation in democracy and amplifying community movements. A major focus is on civic engagement and voter participation, voter education, registration, turnout, deep canvassing, bilingual outreach, leadership development, community organizing.

Grants

Eight of the eleven grant recipients below were part of the original IVE project spearheaded by the Kansas Health Foundation.

Purpose of Grants

The “purpose of grant” from the IRS 990 nonprofit statements are shown below by grant recipient:

Kansas Health Foundation

• Loud Light, MORE2, SOCE, The Voter Network (grant 1):
  “To provide core support funding …”

• The Voter Network (grant 2): “To provide funding in support of collaboration with nonprofits across the state to help them embed paid relational programs into their election activities. This effort aims to increase turnout by at least 1.5% - and up to 5%.”

Driving turnout up like this in targeted populations can alter election results. When all voters are not being targeted, election “bias” is introduced even when a “nonprofit” claims its “nonpartisan.”

REACH Healthcare Foundation

The purposes of REACH grants were combinations of these two nebulous phrases:

• “bridge the coverage divide”

• “close the health equity gap”

So, instead of providing any health care, REACH uses nonprofit dollars to pretend voting is healthcare.

Health Forward

“Health care” is “voting” from the Health Forward perspective.

Purpose of grants by recipient:

• ALCU Foundation of Kansas: “Improving voter access through Restore my Vote and Election Projection”

• Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation: “Kansas voter engagement”

• Argentine Betterment Corp: “Empowering engagement in Argentine: A community-led voter outreach initiative”

• El Centro: “Nuestro poder es nuestro voto” (Our power is our vote). How is “power” healthcare?

• Kansas Black Leadership Council: “KBLC ‘My Black Vote Campaign’”

• League of Women Voters of Kansas: “2024 League GOTV” (get-out-the-vote)

• Loud Light: “2024 Kansas youth voter engagement”

• MORE2: “Kansas voter engagement: our votes matter”

• The Voter Network: “Get out the 2024 vote in Kansas”

• Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County: “Voter engagement grant”

Amounts

Generally listed from left-to-right from the diagram above …

• $100K, The Neighboring Movement. Key aspects of The Neighboring Movement’s civic/political involvement include, nonpartisan voter education and get-out-the-vote promotion, and dedicated “civic engagement” activities.

• $175K, MORE² (Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity) is a faith-based community organizing group and affiliate of the national Gamaliel Network. MORE2 conducts non-partisan voter registration, education, and get-out-the-vote work across the metro, with targeted efforts on the Kansas side. It runs an Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) program specifically in KCK/Wyandotte County.

• $145K, Loud Light. Loud Light’s primary involvement in politics and elections centers on expanding voter access, increasing turnout (particularly among young and marginalized voters), monitoring legislation, and challenging laws it views as barriers to voting.

• $269K, The Voter Network, initially created by the Mainstream Coalition, is a nonprofit focused exclusively on voter education and nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts within Kansas. The Voter Network uses “relational organizing” described as “peer pressure with a purpose” for its GOTV efforts, where mostly progressive teams look for mostly progressive voters that results in biased outcomes. Known nonprofit sources gave The Voter Network $454K in 2024.

• $25K, El Centro. El Centro is involved in Kansas politics and elections (primarily at the local Wyandotte County and state level) through nonpartisan voter mobilization, registration drives, education, and advocacy. El Centro participated in KHF’s Integrated Voter Engagement project.

• $10K, League of Women Voters of Kansas. LWVK is deeply involved in the mechanics and their perceived fairness of politics and elections—through education, information tools, forums, advocacy, testimony, and legal action. Many view the League as left-leaning. The LWVK helped build Blueprint Kansas’ web site ksvotes.org.

• $10K, Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County is a grassroots, community-based nonprofit organization operating mostly in Wyandotte County, but also Johnson County, focused on local empowerment, civic renewal, and protecting democracy. Its work centers on preventing perceived voter suppression or dilution of minority voting power while promoting broader civic engagement. VRNWC frequently partners with groups like the ACLU of Kansas, League of Women Voters, Loud Light, El Centro, MORE2, and others on joint voting-rights initiatives.

• $20K, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation. In theory AIRR has limited involvement in elections, but it provides civic engagement and voter mobilization within immigrant communities, especially in Wyandotte County.

• $110K, ACLU of Kansas. ACLU Kansas works on voting rights protection and advocacy, as well as using lawfare to advance progressive causes and concerns through lawsuits.

• $20K, Kansas Black Leadership Council attempts to increase Black political participation and influence policy at the state and local levels

• $15K, Argentine Betterment Corp engages in elections by encouraging civic participation and hosting informational events to help residents stay informed and involved in local governance.

Receipts

The links below are to IRS 990s, which can be used to verify the grants shown above, as well as related grants to other groups:

• Kansas Health Foundation 2024 IRS 990

• REACH Healthcare Foundation 2024 IRS 990

• Health Forward Foundation 2024 IRS 990

Related

When did civic engagement become healthcare?

Kansas IVE spending totals almost $9 million from 2017 to 2025

The Voter Network: History and Financials

There is a progressive “nonprofit in the middle” between a growing number of voters and election offices in Kansas

But in this case, a Kansas PAC gave large amounts to two Kansas progressive nonprofits.

Middle of the Road PAC

Middle of the Road PAC is a Kansas-registered political action committee launched in August 2023 by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. Kelly serves as its spokesperson, though not officially as chair or treasurer.

In 2024 the PAC spent significantly in battleground legislative races to influence outcomes.

A Watchdog Lab article from Oct. 30, 2024 revealed part of the money that is known now. Final reports showed some additional spending in the money flow charts.

Missing in the 2024 report was information that in 2023 Kansas Values Institute sent $104K to Middle of the Road PAC and $50K to The Voter Network. It’s unclear whether these funds were related to 2023 local elections, or for use in the 2024 elections.

So, the transactions between Middle of the Road and KVI in 2024 were part of an ongoing relationship between the two organizations started in 2023.

In the past Kansas Values Institute often uses independent expenditures for its work, so the KVI’s grants in 2024 of $180K to nonprofit Bluestem Fund For Economic Freedom, and $5K to nonprofit Kansans for Affordable Future are curious. These two recipients in some reports appear to share the same address in their IRS filings.

• Bluestem Fund for Economic Freedom nonprofit is closely aligned with the Bluestem Fund PAC, which was founded by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Their get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy indirectly supports candidates favoring priorities generally aligned with Democratic or union issues.

• Kansans for an Affordable Future is most active in local elections and issues tied to energy policy, utility rates, and county commissions—especially in areas like Douglas, Sedgwick, and Wyandotte counties.

Here’s a breakdown of money transfers known before and after the 2024 election:

• Middle of the Road Kansas PAC reports: (PAC payments to nonprofits)

  • Oct 2024 (before election):

    • $500K from Middle of the Road to KVI

    • $350K to Bluestem Fund

  • Jan 2025 (after election):

    • $100K from Middle of the Road to KVI;

    • $10K KVI to Middle of the Road. Some sort of refund?

    • $30K Middle of the Road to Bluestem Fund

Both the 2023 and 204 IRS 990s from KVI was only available after the 2024 Kansas election. These filings showed grants that were not otherwise known:

• Kansas Values Institute 990 tax filings: (grants made by KVI)

  • 2023 IRS 990 (after election): $104K to Middle of the Road and $50K to The Voter Network

  • 2024 IRS 990 (after election): $180K to Bluestem Fund; $5K to Kansans for Affordable

Nonprofit Kansans for an Affordable Future also received $185K from the Delaware-based nonprofit Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund.

“Local Jobs” also contributed $85K to the Amberwave PAC in 2024, which is promoted by JoCo Board Chair Mike Kelly (buy technically it’s not “his” PAC) to control Johnson County government.

The Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund operates as a dark-money-style group: it does not disclose its donors on IRS Form 990 filings, and its funding sources are primarily large grants from left-of-center foundations and intermediaries. In practice, LJEDF functions primarily as a political funding vehicle. It channels money into local elections, ballot measures, PACs, Democratic/progressive committees, and advocacy groups.

“Local Jobs” receives funding from at least three Arabella-managed funds, Tides Advocacy/Tides Foundation and Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, which has funded KVI in 2023.

Some money flows in the above diagram are documented in these documents:

• $150K from NEA Advocacy Fund to Kansas Values in FEC report from Oct 2024.

• Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund 2024 IRS 990.

Kansas Values Institute spent a staggering $23 million on the 2022 Kansas elections, mostly to help re-elect Gov. Laura Kelly.

Related

PAC also directed $850K to nonprofits helping Democratic candidates through “issue advocacy”

What is known about third party “Kansans for an Affordable Future” that sent political flyers in a Douglas County commission primary contest in August?

KVI raised and spent more in 2022 than in the previous 11 years combined

Amberwave PAC spent about $200,000 in 2024

Tides’ funds

Two of the five core Tides nonprofits sent grants to Kansas progressive groups in 2024 according to IRS 990 filings released late last year.

• Tides Advocacy is a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit founded in 1992 that serves as a fiscal sponsor, grant maker, and advocacy platform for progressive causes, such as social justice, environmental protection, health equity, democracy, voting rights and civic engagement.

• The Tides Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 1976 that operates as a major philanthropic partner, grant maker, and donor-advised fund manager dedicated to advancing social justice and equity in progressive areas such as equity/human rights/economic empowerment, sustainable environment, healthy individuals/communities, quality education, democracy, health equity, and climate solutions.

Grants

Tides Advocacy

Perhaps the most curious nonprofit grant from 2024 is the $500K from Tides Advocacy to the Alacrity Institute in Manhattan, which is run by Aaron Estabrook, the treasurer of the United Kansas party.

• Alacrity Institute’s main purpose is advocacy for electoral reform, especially fusion voting. Founded by Aaron Estabrook, who is treasurer of the United Kansas party that pushes fusion voting.

Tides Advocacy also gave $50,000 to Kansans for an Affordable Future.

• Kansans for an Affordable Future is most active in local elections and issues tied to energy policy, utility rates, and county commissions—especially in areas like Douglas, Sedgwick, and Wyandotte counties.

Receipts

The links here to IRS 990s show grants to other nonprofits, which can be used to verify the grants show above, as well as related grants to national groups.

• Tides Advocacy 2023 IRS 990

• Tides Advocacy 2024 IRS 990

Tides Foundation

The Tides Foundation has about a half-billion in assets and sent these grants to Kansas progressive nonprofits in 2024:

• $15K to Kansas Latino Community Network, Mission. KLCN’s role in Kansas politics is primarily nonpartisan civic empowerment and advocacy. It emphasizes voter registration, education, and turnout.

• $115K to Loud Light, Topeka. Loud Light’s primary involvement in politics and elections centers on expanding voter access, increasing turnout (particularly among young and marginalized voters), monitoring legislation, and challenging laws it views as barriers to voting.

• $40K to The Neighboring Movement, Wichita. Also known as the SOCE Neighborhood Action Foundation, key aspects of The Neighboring Movement’s civic/political involvement include, nonpartisan voter education and GOTV (get-out-the-vote) promotion, and dedicated “civic engagement” activities.

• $185K to The Voter Network, Overland Park. Initially created by the Mainstream Coalition, The Voter Network is a nonprofit focused exclusively on voter education and nonpartisan get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts within Kansas. It uses relational organizing described as “peer pressure with a purpose” for its GOTV efforts, where mostly progressive teams look for mostly progressive voters. That defines “nonpartisan?” In all The Voter Network received $454K from known nonprofit sources in 2024.

• $40K to Mainstream Civic Engagement, Merriam. [Also received $108,350 from New Venture Fund.] Mainstream Civic Engagement is the 501(c)(3) arm of the Mainstream Coalition organization founded in the early 1990s in Johnson County. Mainstream Civic Engagement emphasizes nonpartisan voter education, turnout, and civic participation. Mainstream Civic Engagement was the organization that launched the separate nonprofit, The Voter Network. Mainstream Civic Engagement held an event in 2025 to “confront Christian Nationalism at home.”

• $100K to The Land Institute, Salina. The Land Institute is a science-driven policy advocate for perennial agriculture (lobbying-focused, non-electoral). The Land Institute helped birth the Climate + Energy Project historically, but has no role in CEP’s voter mobilization and Integrated Voter Engagement efforts.
  

Receipts

This link to the Tides Foundation 2024 IRS 990 can be used to verify its grants from 2024 across the country:

• Tides Foundation 2024 IRS 990

Related

Are grants for $910 million missing in the online database for 2023 alone?

Kansas IVE spending totals almost $9 million from 2017 to 2025

Was this new party created from Kansas grassroots or from a push by national nonprofits? Or both?

Arabella Advisors’ managed funds

In 2024 Kansas progressive nonprofits received funding from five of the seven Arabella-managed nonprofits.

See this article for new names associated with the “Arabella” funds starting in Nov. 2025.

North Fund and Hopewell Fund

Funders

• The North Fund is a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit founded around 2019. Its focus is on promoting abortion, reducing health disparities, safeguarding the environment, advocating for equality, and engaging Americans in democracy.

• The Hopewell Fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2015 that specializes in providing fiscal sponsorship and project incubation services. Part of a progressive, Democratic-aligned network managed by Arabella Advisors.

Grants

Arabella-advised North Fund and Hopewell Fund often support abortion causes in Kansas, such as Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, Aria Medical and Trust Women.

• $50,000 from North Fund to Kansans for Constitutional Freedom in Leawood. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom advocates for safe, legal and accessible abortions. KCF plans to oppose a proposed 2026 Kansas constitutional amendment on judicial selection. Ashley All was the communications director for KCF in opposing the Value Them Both referendum in 2022, and now runs the Kansa Coalition for Common Sense nonprofit.

• $409,625 from Hopewell Fund to Aria Medical clinic in Wichita. Aria Medical is an abortion provider. Its involvement in politics and elections is indirect but significant, centered on Kansas’ ongoing abortion policy battles.

• $454,185 from Hopewell Fund to Trust Women clinic in Wichita. Trust Women is the operating name for a Wichita abortion clinic that advocates for abortion rights/access.

Receipts

The links below are to IRS 990s, which can be used to verify the grants shown above, as well as related grants to other groups:

• North Fund 2024 IRS 990

• Hopewell Fund 2024 IRS 990

New Venture Fund

Funder

• The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2006 that serves primarily as a professional fiscal sponsor and project incubator. It enable donors, philanthropists, change leaders, and initiatives to launch and scale public-interest projects quickly and efficiently without forming independent nonprofits.

Grants

The New Venture Fund “c3” tax exempt money flowed to several Kansas nonprofits often involved in “civic engagement” and election activities:

• $138,000 to Kansas Civic Engagement Table, Lenexa. KCET operates as a “backbone” group that coordinates and supports other nonprofits and advocacy organizations to promote inclusive democracy. Its primary focus is integrated voter engagement. KCET director Evan Gates also serves as the Executive Director of the Kansas Values Institute.

• $62,500 to Blueprint Kansas doing business as KSVotes.org, Wichita. Blueprint Kansas is very involved in Kansas elections by making voter registration and advance voting easier/more accessible statewide, but its approach is less secure than the online resource provided by the Kansas Secretary of State. ksvotes.org enables registration using the “federal” voter registration form, which is less strict than the Kansas form, especially for those without a Kansas driver’s license or ID.

• $113,182 to Kansas Latino Community Network, Mission. KLCN’s role in Kansas politics is primarily nonpartisan civic empowerment and advocacy. It emphasizes voter registration, education, and turnout.

• $108,350 to Mainstream Civic Engagement, Merriam. Mainstream Civic Engagement is the 501(c)(3) arm of the Mainstream Coalition organization founded in the early 1990s in Johnson County. Mainstream Civic Engagement emphasizes nonpartisan voter education, turnout, and civic participation. Mainstream Civic Engagement was the organization that launched the separate nonprofit, The Voter Network. Mainstream held an event in 2025 to “confront Christian Nationalism at home.”

Another Kansas NVF grantee, Exchange Point Institute, which is in tiny St. Francis in the far northwest part of the state, is a bit of a mystery.

EPI received $150,000 from the “dark money” New Venture Fund and another $120K from the Ford Foundation.

The “core support” purposes from the two Ford Foundation grants ($50,000 + $70,000) to Exchange Point Institute are curious.

The complete text of the purposes of the Ford Foundation grants from the 2024 IRS 990 shows this:

• Grant for $50,000 for “core support to survey and interview global internet infrastructure members of the infrared network that provide alternatives to multinational corporate tech platforms to develop a long term and sustainable strategic plan for the network.”

• Grant for $70,000 for “core support for the social web foundation to increase the reach and sustainability of open source social media platforms.”

Exchange Point Institute has no apparent role in Kansas politics or elections, but the organization received progressive dark money funding.

Exchange Point director Mallory Knodel is an advocate for using the Internet for social change. Knodel is the Executive Director of the Social Web Foundation, and the former Chief Technology Officer of Center for Democracy & Technology.

Receipt

This link to the New Venture Fund 2024 IRS 990 can be used to verify its grants from 2024 across the country:

• New Venture Fund 2024 IRS 990

Sixteen Thirty Fund

Funder

• The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization founded in 2009 that operates as a fiscal sponsor and platform for progressive causes, especially equity and racial justice, affordable health care access, climate solutions, voter rights, democracy strengthening, economic equity.

Grant

Topeka-based Bluestem Foundation for Economic Freedom received $38,000 in “c4” money from the Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2024.

• Bluestem Fund for Economic Freedom nonprofit is closely aligned with the Bluestem Fund PAC, which was founded by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Their get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy indirectly supports candidates favoring priorities generally aligned with Democratic or union issues.

Bluestem Foundation received another $380K from Middle of the Road PAC and $180K from nonprofit Kansas Values Institute in 2024.

Receipt

This link to the Sixteen Thirty Fund 2024 IRS 990 can be used to verify its grants from 2024 across the country:

• Sixteen Thirty Fund 2024 IRS 990

Sixteen Thirty gives to Johnson County Democratic Party?

The Sixteen Thirty Fund had a $4750 lobbying expenditure related to the Johnson County Democratic Party?

The JoCo Dems acknowledged receipt of the $4750 but neither sender nor receiver gives any explanation for its purpose.

• JoCo Dems Oct 2024 Committee Filing

Arabella fund combinations

Funders

See above notes about funders Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund.

• The Windward Fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2015 that functions as a fiscal sponsor and incubator for environmental projects, such as climate mitigation, energy transition, environmental justice, conservation, water protection, agriculture sustainability, biodiversity preservation.

All three funds are managed by Arabella Advisors.

Grants

• Loud Light Civic Action received $50,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund (both are “c4” nonprofits). Loud Light Civic Action handles more explicit lobbying and action alerts than its related nonprofit, Loud Light.

• Loud Light received $8500 from the New Venture Fund and $80,000 from the Windward Fund (all were “c3” nonprofits). Loud Light’s primary involvement in politics and elections centers on expanding voter access, increasing turnout (particularly among young and marginalized voters), monitoring legislation, and challenging laws it views as barriers to voting.

• The Windward Fund gave an $80,000 grant to Loud Light and a $50,000 grant Kansas Interfaith Action. KIFA positions its work as faith-based and nonpartisan. InfluenceWatch characterize KIFA as left-of-center. In recent 2023 and 2024 elections KIFA hired part-time “mobilizers” and team captains to to contact at least 50 people in their personal networks—often infrequent voters—about upcoming elections, help with registration/absentee ballots, and encourage participation.
  
  

New Venture Fund “c3” gave $90,000 to Kansas Common Sense Fund “c3” with Sixteen Thirty “c4” giving $20,000 to Kansas Coalition for Common Sense “c4.”

Then “c3” Common Sense then gave to “c4” Common Sense to pay salaries and other expenses, which is shown in the Kansas Common Sense Fund 2024 IRS 990.

Funds given to Kansas Common Sense Fund seem to be used to pay for salaries of staff members part of both nonprofits.

• While Kansas Coalition for Common Sense self-identifies as nonpartisan and works with “diverse” partners, its primary focus on defending reproductive rights, criticizing conservative legislation, and alignment with Democratic-leaning networks places it on the progressive side of Kansas politics.

• Kansas Common Sense Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational arm of the 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. Kansas Common Sense Fund focuses on developing research-based messaging to empower Kansans, advocates, nonprofit groups, community leaders, and policymakers in promoting “common sense Kansas values,” which most in Kansas label as “progressive.”

Receipts

See above IRS 990s for New Venture Fand and Sixteen Thirty Fund.

This link to the Windward Fund 2024 IRS 990 can be used to verify its grants from 2024 across the country:

• Windward Fund 2024 IRS 990

Sixteen Thirty pays for Kansas fundraising?

• Tailwind Partners LLC is a Kansas-based political consulting firm that specializes in providing campaign services to Democratic and progressive candidates, PACs, advocacy organizations, and political infrastructure efforts in the state.

Related

But how can “non-partisan” 501(c)(3) nonprofit, The Voter Network, legally use tax-exempt dollars to form a partnership with a partisan Kansas PAC to target student voters in 2026?

KYD Strategic Plan

According to its “2026 Strategic Plan,” the Kansas Young Democrats PAC will counter the work of conservative Turning Point USA on college campuses in Kansas through a partnership with The Voter Network.

Specifically, KYD plans to …

Launch a state-wide relational organizing program in partnership with The Voter Network. By utilizing their proven “Voter to Voter” tool, we will empower young Kansans to mobilize their own social circles to get out the vote.

The Voter Network formed in 2019 as part of Merriam-based Mainstream Coalition.
In early 2023 The Voter New work was spun off as a new independent nonprofit.

In 2024 The Voter Network became an “emerging” state table of State Voices. State Voices received nearly $5 million from Soros’ Open Society Foundations from 2016 to 2023, and a number of grants from five of the seven Arabella Advisors’ managed funds from 2018 to 2024.

According to the 2026 strategic plan, KYD “could offer” a $500 “Young Dem Mobilizer” stipend to those “who successfully turn out the highest number of voters via the Voter-to-Voter tool.” KYD will use “verification through V2V of confirmed low-propensity voter contacts that voted in the 2026 election.”

Voter-to-Voter must say “no” to partisan use of their system

In Sept. 2025 it was possible to view online the 425 teams of the Voter-to-Voter project. Download that list below.

On Sunday Voter-to-Voter reported having 178 more teams than Sept. 2025.

In September one team could be considered “partisan,” since it was created by one of the minor political parties in the state.

The Voter Network is inviting complaints to the IRS about its 501(c)(3) non-profit status if it does not take measures to guarantee it is not providing services to partisan organizations with its Voter-to-Voter online tool.

Claimed effectiveness

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund published a slidedeck online with statistics of the Voter-to-Voter (VOTV) effectiveness in its early years as part of the rollout of its “Faith in Democracy” project of several dozen Voter-to-Voter teams.

As shown below, turnout from voters “touched” by Voter-to-Voter ambassadors were much more likely to vote in data from 2018 to 2020.

Voter-to-Voter pushes turnout of “low propensity” voters in their metrics.

Voter-to-Voter Teams

Readers are encouraged to download the list of 425 Voter-to-Voter teams from Sept. 2025 and give feedback on any that may be considered partisan.

For example, the new United Kansas party had a team at that time formed by the treasurer of that party.

How can a nonprofit allow any political party or partisan PAC to use its Voter-to-Voter platform as part of an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit?

Voter to Voter Teams from Sept. 2025

17.6KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

Download

Related

The Voter Network is a unique resource in Kansas used by dozens of progressive groups and is quite an advantage over conservatives.

Watchdog Lab reported nearly two years ago that Kansas Values Institute spent $23 million to help re-elect Gov. Laura Kelly in 2022. But where did KVI get the money?

The $23 million KVI expenditure in 2022 was more than the combination of expenditures by Laura Kelly’s and Derek Schmidt’s gubernatorial campaigns!

Nonprofits are not legally required to identify their donors by name in IRS 990 tax filings, but can be required to file a “Schedule B,” which identifies amounts of contributions.

Two very large contributions have always been very curious in the 2022 KVI filing.

The KVI Schedule B from 2022 showed 88 contributors of $5000 or more with the largest single contributor giving $12,826,000, and another giving $3,650,000!

This largest contributor from 2022 was accidentally discovered while studying KVI expenditures for 2024.

Like many other nonprofits involved in elections KVI’s expenditures from 2024 were reported in a 990 filing in Nov. 2025, which only recently became available to study.

Nearly $14 million from America Works USA to Kansas Values Institute

While looking for 2024 KVI donors, the America Works USA tax filing from its fiscal year 2023 popped up.

Influence Watch says America Works USA is an affiliate of the Democratic Governors Association.

America Works USA is a union-funded affiliate of the Democratic Governors Association that engages in political advocacy to support Democratic Party governors and gubernatorial candidates, as well as labor union policy priorities at the state level. …

America Works USA has been referred to as “an arm of the Democratic Governors Association,” an “affiliate,” and “created by” it, and the DGA itself refers to America Works USA as “allied” with it.

The America Works USA tax filing reveals it gave Kansas Values Institute nearly $14 million during its fiscal year that started in May 2022 and ended in April 2023.

Kansas Values Institute has a fiscal year that runs from Jan. through Dec., so the nearly $1 million difference in amounts reported by KVI ($12,826,000) and America Works USA ($13,891,000) is likely due to the different fiscal years. The amounts received by KVI were likely reported as part of two calendar year filings.

So, perhaps the KVI contributor giving $3.65 million in 2022 will also be accidentally discovered by researching other matters.

Related

Instead of telling the whole story, the media foments selective outrage and aggression against those trying to solve problems facing the country after 10+ million invaded the Untied States during the Biden administration.

Many “illegals” are now receiving government benefits not available to US citizens.

The media never explains how an “illegal” is not the same as a “migrant.” Mila Joy on X explains the difference:

When you come through our borders illegally, you broke the law. You’re “illegal.” …

When you follow the proper channels, you can be called an “immigrant.”

Don’t get those confused.

On X today Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt gave a background and context lacking in media reports:

The story of what’s happening in Minneapolis didn’t begin last month. It didn’t even begin last year, when President Trump took office.

It began on January 20, 2021 — the day Joe Biden became president.

The Biden admin did something unprecedented in American history.

They intentionally opened our border to a full-scale invasion, and actively sought to block any and every attempt to fight it.

What is happening in Minneapolis could possibly evolve to impact Kansas City and Wichita, especially to influence the 2026 elections later in the year.

ICE watch in Kansas

Kansas nonprofit, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, has its phone number prominently displayed as part of an 8-page “zine” (pronounced “zeen,” short for “magazine”) focused on reporting any activity by ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) .

Contents of the Kansas City “SALUTE” zine:

• I want to help keep my immigrant neighbors safe — what can I do?

• If you witness someone being detained by ice …

• Record information: “SALUTE”

• ICE can deputize other federal agents: DHS, DPB, HSI, ATF

• Some other things to keep in mind …

The zine above claims “help keep our neighbors safe” when ICE is removing criminals?

The AIRR number, 913-999-2398, is promoted online in a number of places as the “Community Watch Line,” including in news stories (Kansas City Star, KSHB, The Beacon KC, Telemundo), and by Kansas groups (Boots on the Ground Midwest, ACLU of Kansas, Kansas Immigration Coalition), Missouri groups (Latinx Education Collaborative, Revolución Educativa, Northland Forward, Kansas City Roller Warriors, KC Tenants), and national groups (50501).

Kansas City area-based and Indivisible affiliate, Boots on the Ground Midwest, is a coalition of nearly 40 nonprofit and other groups actively helping AIRR.

Boots has been holding anti-ICE “Community Defense Training” sessions in both Kansas and Missouri.

Wichita-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Leading Kansas, had been involved in creating “whistle kits” to interfere with ICE activities.

Boots on the Ground, Leading Kansas, and their coalition of progressive organizations are also quite active in voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities.

AIRR phone number part of nationwide anti-ICE Signal Groups

On Wednesday, researcher Karlyn Borysenko on X published an article, How all the anti-ICE Signal Groups are Connected, along with an Excel file, showing anti-ICE connections in about 60 US cities.

The Kansas nonprofit, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, and its phone number were in Borysenko’s Excel file as part of a nationwide network.

AIRR funding sources

Advocates For Immigration Rights & Reconciliation is a Raytown, Missouri corporation with its principal office in Kansas City, KS.

In 2024 AIRR reported $439K in revenues, $305K in expenditures, with net assets of $412K.

A search of IRS 990s reveals these known donors to AIRR:

• $44,773 from Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, 2019

• $75,000 from Kansas Health Foundation, 2022

• $15,000 from ImpactAssetsInc, 2022 (dark money source)

• $20,000 from Hispanic Federation, Inc, 2023 for “Know Your Rights” program

• $200,000 from Health Care Foundation of Greater KC (doing business as Health Forward Foundation), 2023

• $50,000 from Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, 2024 [related to union Amalgamated Bank]

Selective outrage; Press disinformation

Many crimes caused by migrants are simply ignored by the press, and our judicial system is failing to deal with many of the crimes fairly.

In the last few weeks a nurse in Minneapolis “protecting” illegal immigrants from ICE deportation was tragically killed. The press has flamed outrage in society, but why has there not been similar outrage by those killed or injured by illegal immigrants?

All deaths are tragic, but too many in our society seem to be suffering from “toxic empathy” or “suicidal empathy.” Many in our society are not holding others accountable, especially for crime or other harm to society caused by illegals.

Besides crimes by illegal immigrants, there are other costs paid by taxpayers ignored by the press, including

• Uncontrolled government spending on migration while citizens are being ignored is unconscionable. The government could not help disaster victims in East Palestine, Maui, Malibu, or Hurricane Helene because the money was spent giving a free ride to those let into the country.

• Higher inflation. Higher costs for housing. More deaths from drug overdoses. Outbreaks of eradicated diseases (e.g., measles, tuberculosis). The press is incapable (or unwilling) to associate these problems with the open border and uncontrolled immigration and associated government spending.

More deportations can help make our country safer with a more trusting society.

Related

Tennessee Releases Staggering Stats on Migrant Crime, Warner Todd Huston, Breitbart, Feb. 2, 2026.

Misdirection in Minnesota: We need to recognize anti-Americanism when we see it, John Droz, Critically Thinking, Jan. 30, 2026.

We are living through a color revolution (video), Defender of the Republic on X, Jan. 29, 2026.

Kansas Democrats tout bill requiring ICE to display IDs, shed masks and forego warrantless searches, Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector, Jan. 29, 2026.

The Deadly Cost of Ignorance, Defender of the Republic on X, Jan. 24, 2026.

In its recent January campaign finance filing, Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC reported raising $78,000, spending $62,000, with $27,000 in reserves for the 2026 elections.

Kelly, chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, is using his PAC to “purify” the elected Commissioners to be only Democrats, who will support his left-leaning agenda in the “non-partisan” board he leads.

In 2024 Kelly’s Amberwave PAC spent over $200,000 to oust one Republican Commissioner and ensure two Democrats were easily elected.

Contributions. In the recent filing the largest portion of contributions to the Amberwave PAC was $60,000 from mostly Kansas City area labor unions:

• $20,000 IBEW PAC Educational Fund, Washington, DC.

• $20,000 Pipefitters Local Union 533, Kansas City, MO.

• $10,000 Mid-America Carpenters Regional County Missouri-Kansas Area PAC, KCMO.

• $10,000 Operating Engineers Local 101 PAC, KCMO.

Other large contributions totaling $11,000 included:

• $6,000 from Osage LLC (Cannot be found in the Kansas Secretary of State’s business search, but Olathe address matches Hi Line Construction LLC in Johnson County Contractor Licensing Search)

• $5,000 from “Richard Chavez Jr” (Spelling should be “Richard Chaves” according to a Missouri Ethics Commission summary for the KCMO Northland Strong PAC?)

Expenditures. The PAC sent $1,000 contributions to each of six Democratic candidates (in “non-partisan” contests):

• $1,000 each to Chad Carroll, Lee Cross, Geoff Holton, Dawn Rattan for JCCC Trustee. [Gerald Lee Cross contributed $2,500 as Gerald Cross to Amberwave and received $1,000 back from the PAC as Cross for JCCC Trustee.]

• $1,000 to Jennifer Gunby, Water One District.

• $1,000 to Julie Aldridge, USD 231 School Board.

All six of these Democratic candidates won their elections.

Huge payment for consulting?

The Amberwave PAC report contained 26 contributors and 13 expenditures and vendor Databasically received over $51,000 for ”Consultant Consulting and campaign execution?”

The president of Databasically is P. Wes Garrison, who is the Vice-Chair of the Johnson County Democrats.

More transparency should be provided in the report for such a huge expenditure.

Details

The Jan. 10, 2026 Amberwave PAC Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report can be viewed online using the Campaign Finance Viewer provided by the Secretary of State. [For the first time in 20 years, such reports are not available at the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission website, and it’s unclear when they might appear.]

Amberwave Contributors

Do readers have information about the other contributors?

Amberwave Expenditures

Mystery continues about related nonprofit

Mystery still surrounds the “related” 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Amberwave Impact Fund, which was revealed in an amended Statement of Organization filed by the Amberwave PAC in Oct. 2025.

There was speculation in Oct. 2025 this announcement might mean some involvement in the Nov. 2025 election, but that never happened (or was never found).

The Amberwave Impact Fund was registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit effective on April 21, 2025, but its name or EIN identifier have not been found in any search.

The Impact Fund’s board consists of Mike Talboy, (D-Shawnee), Wade Kiefer (D-Olathe), Emily Hage (D-Roeland Park), and Mike Kelly (D-Prairie Village, and Chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners). The address above is an attorney’s office in Topeka.

So, perhaps the Amberwave Impact Fund will appear in 2026?

Related

Described in a Watchdog Lab article from Sunday, the DC-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit Global Impact Social Welfare Fund in 2023 gave $500,000 to the Delaware-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund, which gave $85,000 to Kelly’s Amberwave PAC.

In the 2024 general election, Democratic candidates for the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners enjoyed sizable money advantages from their own campaigns. For example, in District 3 Democrat challenger Julie Brewer spent $89,217 while Republican incumbent Charlotte O’Hara spent only $30,712. Amberwave PAC took a dual approach to ensure all Democrats won. For example, Amberwave spent an additional $20,631 to help Julie Brewer, while also spending $18,730 to oppose Charlotte O’Hara.

Amberwave PAC in 2024 received money from Gov. Laura Kelly’s PAC, a national left-leaning nonprofit, and labor unions, and then spent the money only for Democrats in “nonpartisan” JoCo Commissioner contests.

Disclosure

I was appointed to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission in March 2024, which was renamed last year to the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.

Views in Watchdog Lab articles are my own and in no way represent the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.

Click here to subscribe to the Prairie Wren.

Prairie Wren’s first article, Turning those red states blues … the Arabella way, describes how former Arabella Advisors’ employee, Jonah Meyers, is using “the Arabella Way” to turn America’s mostly-conservative, western states “blue” from being stubbornly “red.”

Meyers …

• formed his own private consultancy, Blue Moon Strategies, LLC (June 2021),

• created a 501(c)(4) Western Futures Fund, Inc. nonprofit (Nov. 2021),

• and created a federal political action committee, the Way Back PAC (Sept. 2022).

Prairie Wren uncovered the Western Futures Fund and Way Back PAC share the same Sheridan, WY address, along with perhaps thousands of other businesses, but showed evidence it’s run by Meyers from Silver Spring, MD, a DC suburb.

States receiving money from either Western Futures Fund or Way Back PAC include (in decreasing order of amounts): Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Utah, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, North Dakota, Oregon, and Iowa. See article for details.

Western Futures Fund

In its first year of operation the Western Futures Fund received over $2 million from the “dark money” nonprofit, Sixteen Thirty Fund, which was managed by Meyers’ former employer, the Arabella Advisors.

Prairie Wren studied the 2023 IRS 990 tax filing by nonprofit Western Futures Fund and found “as a management consultant, Blue Moon Strategies is responsible for day-to-day operations,” which is Meyers’ consulting firm.

Way Back PAC

The Way Back PAC formed in Sept. 2022 but quickly amended its FEC filing to show Jonah Meyers was the PAC’s “designated agent” with title of “Treasurer.”

It’s curious the PAC’s bank on the FEC form is Amalgamated Bank, which Influence Watch says is “labor union-aligned.”

Prairie Wren describes how Meyer’s Blue Moon Strategies received an initial payment for “strategic consulting & reimbursement” and a $1,000 “strategic consulting” fee most months since.

Spending by Western Futures Fund and Way Back PAC

Prairie Wren gives a breakdown summary of spending in eleven states and the District of Columbia. See the article for details.

The article shows the contributions in the 2023 Kansas local elections and the 2024 state elections.

2024 Kansas election cycle: $27,500 to candidates

In 2024 the Way Back PAC spent $27,500 on 19 Kansas candidates. At least 18 of the candidates were Democrats. (The party affiliation of one candidate is not known.)

For Kansas, Prairie Wren lists 16 state candidates receiving contributions, including six for Kansas House, six for Kansas Senate, and four for Kansas State Board of Education.

Two Johnson County candidates received Way Back PAC contributions:

• $1000 to Vanessa Riebli for Johnson County District Attorney, and

• $1000 to Byron Roberson for Johnson County Sheriff.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Sarah Lopez (U) received $1000.

There’s more

Prairie Wren’s article gives additional details about other nonprofits “aimed at the Mountain West.”

Related

Prairie Wren noted The Way Back PAC gave $30,000 to Gov. Laura Kelly’s Middle of the Road PAC in Oct. 2024.

In 2022 Global Impact Social Welfare Fund gave $50,000 to Kansas Values Institute, and $2 million to Western Futures Fund (and another $1 million to WFF in 2023).

The Global Impact Social Welfare Fund in 2023 gave $500,000 to the Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund, which gave $85,000 to the Amberwave PAC run by JoCo Chair of County Commissioners, Mike Kelly.

Prairie Wren’s article revealed Western Futures Fund sent $27,125 to Kansas Values Institute in 2023.

The county has been gradually “blueing” in recent years.

Voter registration data, including voter history from the recent Nov. 2025 local elections, can tell a story about the political differences in the county.

This article breaks down Johnson County data in various way in several data tables:

• registered voters by political party,

• actual voters by party in Nov. 2025 elections,

• turnout percentages by party in Nov. 2025 elections,

• gender breakdown with comparisons between registered and voting populations.

The summary data for these breakdowns can all be viewed in a single Excel file that can be downloaded (see link below).

A summary table of similar school district breakdowns is also shown, as well as some data from recent Prairie Village city council contests.

Voter Registrations by Party

Johnson County can be broken into 29 jurisdictions, including 19 cities and 7 townships.

Johnson County as a whole is not monolithic, and there are also differences among the jurisdictions within the county, and differences among the precincts subdividing each jurisdiction. The county can be viewed as a collection of 529 precincts.

Except for the largest Aubry Township, other townships are about the size of some precincts in cities.

Overall, Johnson County is about 40% Republican, 32% Democratic, and 28% other parties, but there are considerable differences among the 26 jurisdictions.

The Republican party has 50+% registrations in two cities, Lake Quivira (57%) and Mission Hills (51%) , and all seven townships ranging from Lexington Township (59%) to Olathe Township (51%).

Democrats show 40+% registrations in Westwood (49%), Roeland Park (45%), Westwood Hills (42%), and Fairway (40%).

Unaffiliated voters are strongest in Edgerton (32%), Merriam (31%) and Gardner Township (30%).

Libertarians make up about 1% of the county (5513 voters) and have 2.3% of voters in Edgerton and 2% of voters in De Soto.

No Labels has 1424 voters (0.31%) and United Kansas has 173 voters (0.04%) in Johnson County.

Voters by Party in Nov 2025 Elections

The local elections in Nov. 2025 were “nonpartisan,” but beneath the surface they have become very partisan.

Democrats make up 31.66% of the Johnson County electorate, but were 45.37% of the Nov. 2025 voting population. So, the voting population of Democrats was 13.71% higher than their representation overall.

The voting population of Republicans in November was less than 2% higher than their overall population.

The “other” voters (unaffiliated, Libertarian, No Labels, United Kansas) were less represented in the voting population than overall by about 15%.

The overall turnout in the Nov. 2025 election was about 25%, but Democratic turnout of about 36% was 10 points above the Republican turnout of 26%.

Turnout in Prairie Village was quite high compared to the county average.

Prairie Village had high turnout: Over 54% of Prairie Village Democrats turned out versus the nearly 51% of Republicans.

Gender breakdown

Statewide in Kansas there are about 90,000 more female voters than males, and in Johnson County the number is about 23,000 more female voters than males.

Johnson County census estimates show for all age intervals under 65 years old, there are more males than females, yet there are more female registered voters and turnout among females is also higher.

Males are underrepresented in the Johnson County electorate, yet groups registering “underrepresented” groups do not seem to care.

Overall in Johnson County the voting population was about 2% more female and 2% less male than the overall voter registration population.

The female-to-male advantage widens in places like

• Westwood Hills with +4.6% for females while being -4% for males, and

• McCamish Township with +7.5 for females while being -7.5% for males.

School Districts

Johnson County can also be viewed as a set of eight school districts similar to the above 26 government jurisdictions.

USD 229 Blue Valley and USD 233 Olathe: Republicans have a sizable advantage in registrations, but Democrats had a nearly 10% higher turnout in these school districts.

Quick look at Prairie Village and 2025 Election

Perhaps the most interesting local elections in JoCo were the six Prairie Village city council contests.

These “nonpartisan” races were highly partisan.

The Election Results and Voter Registrations columns at the right show party breakdown. The yellow highlighting shows “advantage.”

Democrats had clear advantages based on party affiliations in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 6.

Registration advantages were mixed in Ward 4 (2 precinct advantages to Ds and 2 advantages to Rs). Republicans had a clear registration edge in Ward 5. Republicans lost both Wards.

So what happened? Data show more women voters with a higher turnout, especially in precincts 5-2 and 5-3. The data suggest many “Republican” women didn’t vote for the Republican. What might have caused that?

The decades old Mainstream Coalition in Johnson County — created by Rev. Robert Meneilly at the Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village — created is own voting turnout machine, The Voter Network, which is now an “independent” nonprofit.

The Voter Network’s “peer pressure with a purpose” relational organizing works! Progressive nonprofits have spent about $3 million so far developing this turnout resource that has not been countered by the right. This is a key part of the left’s secret to winning in Johnson County even when party affiliation might tell a different story.

Data

Download this Excel file with the breakdown of Johnson County by jurisdiction. The file includes political party registration breakdown, voter summary from Nov. 2025 including turnout, gender breakdown.

JoCo KS Jurisdiction Summary

26.9KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

Download

Data Sources

• Voter registration data from JoCo Election Office voter file, Nov. 18, 2025

• JoCo Official Final Results - Precinct Detail Data

Related

District and County Maps (PDFs), Johnson County Election Office.

Precinct Maps (PDFs), Johnson County Election Office.

The “Blueing” of Johnson County is not accidental or “organic.” Progressive money and activism for more than a decade have been “buying” Johnson County.

Decades ago I voted on paper ballots on election day in Manhattan while at K-State. I have vague recollections of receiving several ballots at my precinct, possibly a separate ballot for federal, state and county elections.

At that time poll workers of both parties administered the election, including counting ballots after the polls closed. The process of counting the paper ballots was simple enough for anyone to understand.

Political party members, who were often neighbors, watched each other at each step of the process, including the counting — a safeguard built into the process.

Now in Johnson County many mark ballots on election day at their precincts with ExpressVote “ballot marking devices” and then feed them into a DS200 tabulator black box to be counted.

Others request ballots my mail, and usually return these paper ballots by mail. Someone at the election office must check the correctness of the outer envelope, and if correct, then scan the returned paper ballot into the DS200 tabulator black box.

Still others (like me) vote early in-person at one of the voting centers using the ballot marking devices and then scan the ballot into the tabulator black box.

We’ve lost the concept of precinct voting and the election security provided by precinct neighbors watching each other during the election process.

Election night results from Johnson County are no longer reported by percentage of precincts reporting. Results start with early voting reported first, then an hour or two later become 100% reporting.

Results from hundreds of precincts must be combined from several sources: election day tabulator, election day hand counted, early voting tabulator, early voting hand counted, mail-in ballots counted via tabulator, provisional ballots, UOCAVA (overseas) ballots.

This added complexity not present decades ago can add doubt to the process, when little has been done to provide additional transparency about this complexity.

Any use of the “honor system” in the election process, like assuming only citizens are registered to vote because it’s the law, also takes away from public confidence.

What happens to ballots in the tabulator black boxes?

When the poll closes election workers access the tabulator election results in three ways, which are all returned to the county election office.

• A printed paper tape with the results by contest, which all election workers sign. Qualified poll agents are allowed to view the tape.

• A USB thumb drive with electronic results.

• A “ballot bin” black box containing the scanned paper ballots. (This “black box” might actually be blue.)

The county election office uses these resources to compile and report election results.

Citizens checking election results

Citizens have a right to ask questions, and ask for transparency, as part of checks and balances on the election process.

We need more transparency to help build trust in our elections, especially since the security provided by neighbors in local precincts has been largely lost. No one is watching most of the steps now.

Election officials should be more open to questions from the public about elections, especially because of computers inside the election “black boxes” provide almost no transparency.

“Simple” tasks of trying to reconcile mail-in ballots vs. election-day ballots are not easy. Sometimes access to election records for analysis are blocked or delayed.

I worked with a small group trying to understand the Nov. 2023 election results using files we could get before and after the election, as well as the official “turnout” file from the election.

Sometimes answers to our questions left us scratching our heads, even after meeting with election officials in person.

For example, the “upset plot” below shows there were 145 voters who were in the “turnout file,” but were never seen in voter files before or after the election. How is that possible?

We then learned there was a difference between the “turnout file” and the voters getting “voter history.”

We learned “voter history” is a bit like a “participation trophy.” You can get “voter history” in the voter files for just participating (like requesting a mail ballot and not returning it), or voting provisionally (when the ballot is not counted). So, “voter history” is not a precise measure in comparing voter files to election results. (“Good” but not precise.)

The county (and state) provide day-by-day reporting of mail ballots sent and received, but for transparency’s sake, should be publishing a running tally of multiple ballots sent to some voters. In Nov. 2023 there were 33 more ballots sent than unique voters requesting ballots.

Some in our group wanted information available only in the poll pads to try to explain election day results. We were told only information in the state “ELVIS” system could be released.

Election day results could only be found by taking the overall election results and subtracting the advance voting voters. We believed separate election day results should be provided by the election office and should be “additive” to the advance voting results.

Perhaps some sort of standardized “reconciliation” form for election results could be shared across all counties that would show ballots issued, voted ballots, ballots accepted and ballots not counted?

Provisional and UOCOVA ballots should also be part of the public accounting starting on election day. Provisional ballots are now reported as part of the final canvass. I could only find Kansas 2024 UOCAVA results as part of a huge Election Assistance Commission report released in June 2025.

Improvements: Need ballot images and “cast vote records”

A DS200 tabulator scans a ballot, but what is happening inside that black box?

There is a great deal of secrecy related to such voting equipment, but sometimes court battles reveal details.

A South Carolina state court battle reveals information about ballot images and cast vote records inside DS200s:

• “The system captures and retains digital images and cast vote records of every scanned ballot for auditing and adjudication.”

• “Ballot images/cast vote records are created, processed and stored at the time of tabulation and that there are safeguards in place to ensure the privacy of each ballot.”

Based on this court case, the DS200 takes a picture of the ballot and saves it as a “ballot image” file on the USB thumb drive.

Next the DS200 analyzes the ballot image and creates a text file of the votes found on the ballot — this is called a “cast vote record.” The cast vote record file should contain one record for each ballot image.

So, a thorough check of election results might start with the paper tapes printed by the tabulator after the polls closed. Numbers on that paper tape should match the number of ballot image files, and the number of votes recorded in the cast vote records.

In theory, any ballot “curing” that might happen could be detected by comparing a ballot image to its cast vote record.

Cast vote records are available as public records in some areas (such as Maryland) and have been analyzed as part of scientific studies.

Why are cast vote records not available for Kansas elections?

Related

I blogged as The Kansas Meadowlark twenty years ago about a great improvement in the availability of campaign finance records in Kansas.

In 2005 there were no online campaign finance records and paper copies cost $0.50/page.

For years state political contribution records in Kansas often did not see the light of day. Records were not online and the records were hard to find. Determining how large the “political pie” was in Kansas was impossible unless one had a lot of time and money to sort through the reports that were hidden from the public by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission and the Kansas Secretary of State.

This “darkness” over political money in Kansas was recognized nationally in 2003 when the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law gave Kansas an “F” in campaign finance disclosure.

Several Kansas newspapers have been responsible in calling for reform, including:

• Aug 4, 2003, Salina Journal, “Campaign tricks are troubling”

• Sept 20, 2003, Lawrence Journal-World, Kansas gets ‘F’ in campaign finance disclosure

• Dec 22, 2004, Wichita Eagle, “Disclose: State’s campaign finance law is a joke”

— Kansas Meadowlark, Dec. 23, 2005.

In late 2005 the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission (now Kansas Public Disclosure Commission) started publishing PDFs of campaign finance records online for free for anyone to view.

“Digital transparency” reforms needed

My problem from 2005 has changed from not easily getting campaign finance records to being overwhelmed with too many to study in 2025.

I can now read many online reports, but automating computer tasks to summarize groups, or analyze the data statistically, is not possible using most of the published files.

Much of campaign finance data, or other files available from the Secretary of State’s Office, are not “digital ready.” Fixing data files for analysis can often take minutes, hours, or possibly days. Why?

One must study hundreds of files manually to see the “big picture” for candidates or PACs, so automation is badly needed.

By 2012 the Secretary of State introduced “digital data” in statewide campaign finance filings, which is somewhat helpful, but much of this data is still not “analysis ready.”

Digital transparency is needed everywhere possible in state and local government.

Simple manipulation is not possible with most existing files, such as search, filter, chart, analyze, but would be with digital data.

Digital transparency barriers and problems

Campaign finance

Public Disclosure Commission

Since 2005 campaign finance reports have been posted online as PDF files, which often cannot be read by computer programs (easily).

PDF files are often minimally useful for analysis. Converting text to machine-readable, editable digital data works with varying degrees of success — and a lot of cleanup is often needed.

The KPDC site does allow Google to search and index these files, which can be helpful to find them, but analysis of these PDF files is mostly a manual process. There’s been no improvement in ability to automate analysis since 2005.

Kansas Secretary of State

The Secretary of State’s “Campaign Finance Viewer” shows a lot of promise, but has a problem.

The first “category” selection is “Candidate Campaign Filings,” which shows all the filings, but these are like the PDFs on the Public Disclosure Commission’s site.

Pick category “Contribution” to see campaign donors and select a date range.

The next screen looks very promising with a button, “Click Here to Export the Results.”

The default prompt says the file will be a Contributions.xls Excel file. BUT, the file that is saved is an .html that when renamed can be viewed in a web browser. Perhaps this is an easy bug to fix? This site does show great promise.

It’s unclear how the “Contribution” or “Expenditure” categories can be used with all candidates and PACs. Perhaps it only can produce data when filings are “electronic,” which is only required now for statewide candidates? (And soon to be required for legislative candidates.)

Election results

Missing reports from the past

It’s impossible to analyze or use data that’s not published or kept online.

Special open record requests are now required for elections statistics published in the past.

For example, why are reports available online in 2012 no longer published, such as “General Election Official Turnout” and “General Election Results by County”?

Why do we only have excellent reporting of unofficial election results starting election night with updates until mail ballots have been counted?

Then these excellent graphics with geographic breakdowns are taken offline instead of final updates after the county canvassing?

The WayBack Machine captured these excellent unofficial results:

• Nov 2022

• Nov 2024

Why can’t these unofficial results with great graphics and geographic breakdowns be finalized and made part of the official election results? Some “export” options would make this an even better resource.

Why isn’t final election reporting now as comprehensive as election night reporting?

2024 Election Results

The current statewide 2024 election results are in four PDF files, which are not formatted in a way that is useful even after conversion to a data format. These files should not pass a “data transparency” standard.

Statewide

Why is this information not released in Excel files with “tidy data” in mind?

Precinct Level Results

Kansas consists of 105 counties. There should be some sort of “transparency rule” that state government should report all county data in a consistent format, not 101 counties in one “long” format and four large counties in similar, but slightly-different, “wide” formats.

Election Statistics Data

The Secretary of State reports monthly state totals of voter registrations by political party, and county totals separately.

Statewide

This data embedded as part of the HTML page does not pass a “data transparency” test. The data must be copied and pasted into an Excel file to be usable for analysis or charting.

All years and all months of this data would could easily be maintained in a single Excel file with one tab with all data, or separate tabs by year.

County

The HTML page with the state totals provides links to separate PDFs with monthly county summaries.

These PDFs do not provide “data transparency” and are very difficult to use. These could easily be published as a single Excel file each month to be usable.

Programs that extract numbers from the these PDFs are sometimes confused by the vertical lines touching the numbers. It’s a tedious manual process to inspect the converted files for errors caused by these vertical lines.

“Digital transparency” should be a statewide initiative broader than elections and campaign finance considered above.

Related

Over the years I occasionally study the money flowing to and from Kansas PACs, such as …

• Kansas PACs in the “Top Ten” List During Election Years 2002, 2004, 2006. Aug. 17, 2007.

• Top 25 Kansas PACs in Nov. General Election Filings, Dec. 4, 2024.

Disclosure

I was appointed to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission in March 2024 — now the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.

Views in Watchdog Lab articles are my own and in no way represent the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.

@EarlGlynn on X