Federal judge in Kansas finds personalized mail ballot requests by third parties are "inherently expressive conduct that the First Amendment embraces"
Expect large waves of third party personalized mail ballot requests in 2024 elections in Kansas
On Thursday in Kansas City, KS US District Judge Kathryn Vratil found certain provisions of Kansas House Bill 2332 to be unconstitutional.
The ruling allows groups like plaintiffs VoteAmerica and Voter Participation Center (VPC), and other interested groups, to send Kansas voters applications for mail ballots fully personalized for their signatures and return to county election offices.
Governor Laura Kelly vetoed HB 2332 , but the Kansas legislature voted for a veto override on May 3, 2021.
VoteAmerica and VPC filed their federal complaint on June 2, 2021.
2018 Election
Court documents in this case mostly focused on what happened in the 2020 election, but mentioned some activity in 2018.
Court records showed “in 2018 VPC sent approximately 90,000 advance mail ballot application mailers to Kansas voters in a single wave of mailers.”
2020 Election
In 2020 VPC mailed nearly 1.2 million advance mail ballot applications in five waves to Kansas voters with the necessary personalized information. The targeted voter were mostly young voters, voters of color, and unmarried women
Records show that 507,864 Kansan received the VPC mailings but some voters received as many as five applications, which was confusing to voters.
Because of COVID several counties, including Douglas and Johnson, opted to send advance ballot applications that were prepopulated with the voter’s data.
Court records showed problems with duplicate mail ballot applications and confusion by some voters.
Shawnee County election commissioner Andrew Howell in court records said a number of voters blamed his office (“expressed anger and frustration at the purported incompetency of the office”) because of duplicates and errors in the pre-filled applications sent by VPC.
Ford County Clerk Debora Cox in court records said she place ads in three Ford County newspapers to remind voters the pre-filled applications were from VPC (via CVI) and had not come from the county election office.
Kansas Election Director Bryan Caskey said he had “dozens if not hundreds of conversations” with county election officials regarding the “flood” of duplicate advance ballot applications.
Court records indicate county election offices received approximately 14,739 duplicate applications using VPC- or CVI-provided envelopes.
2022 Election
WatchdogLab research from 2022 showed the Voter Participation Center sent 145,556 mail ballot request applications to Kansans, while its sister organization Center for Voter Information sent 70,295.
Whether these mail ballot requests were personalized is not known.
Overall, VPC and CVI sent 1.5 million mailings to Kansas voters last year.
For details see How might 1.5 million "educational" mailings in Kansas have affected the Kelly-Schmidt gubernatorial contest?
Court Memorandum and Order
Read complete document online at US Court PACER site or the progressive Democracy Docket page.
Related
Updated Aug. 14, 2023
Conservative groups back Kansas appeal of ruling that mail ballot law was unconstitutional, Jason Alatidd, Topeka Capital-Journal, Aug. 14, 2023.
VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center haven't yet filed their brief, which has an Aug. 24 deadline.
Four Conservative Groups Back Kansas Republicans
Foundation for Government Accountability
Opportunity Solutions Project
Honest Elections Project
Public Interest Legal Foundation
Links to court case documents at progressive Democracy Docket site:
Kansas Voter Suppression Law, VoteAmerica v. Schwab, Filed: June 2, 2021.
