This one is personal — bills weakening voting rights; dangerous public health bill
Action needed. Bills going to the floor tomorrow. Copy & paste emails included.
We haven’t seen the official calendar yet, but we expect the following bills will be on the Senate floor sometime in the net two days. We did get word that SB 391 is on the calendar for Thursday. Please take action as instructed below.
SB 365 — Voting Rights: Removes the three day voter protection period for ballots postmarked by Election Day; disenfranchises voters due to mail delays.
This is the one that is personal to me. I’ve been testifying on behalf of out-of-town college students (including my own) in front of the committee for three years now. Have been saved only by Gov. Kelly’s veto.
SB 366 — Voting rights: Prohibits local election offices from sending out advanced mail ballot applications without a request from the voter.
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This was an important tool election offices utilized during COVID. This fall, the JOCO Election office sent applications out as part of a fantastic comprehensive voter guide.
SB 391 — Dangerous Public Health Bill: Would eliminate quarantine laws and restrict the ability of local health officials to stop the spread of infectious diseases.
LINK TO TAKE QUICK ACTION - Kansas Action for Children has created this easy link to automatically send an email to your Senator. Take note of the talking points they’ve included for customizing your email.
I would really appreciate emails to your Senators. Myself and others have spent a lot of time fighting off these bad policies in the last few years. Maybe if they see a lot of Kansans paying attention they’ll stop introducing these bills.
I may selfishly be trying to lessen the workload for me and others in future years. 😊
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NOTE: Johnson County residents seeing Rick Wilborn as your senator, that is incorrect. Redistricting is causing issues with Senate District 35. Click here to find your current state Senator.
Send two emails to your SENATOR
Below are copy & paste emails for SB 365 & SB 366.
As always, try to use your own wording, if you can.
Reword the opening sentence or any of the verbiage included
Include a related story, if you have one
SB 365: mention mail delays you’ve recently experienced or issues you or a family member have experienced with a mail ballot delay
SB 366: e.g. it helped my son remember to apply for an advanced ballot before he left for college, or mention how helpful it was to receive those applications in the mail during COVID
SB 365 - Example Email
TO: [Your state Senator]
SUBJECT: Vote NO on SB 365Dear Senator _____________,
I urge you to vote no on SB 365. This three day voter protection period is needed now more than ever. In 2017, the legislature added these three days, on a near unanimous vote, because Kansans were experiencing mail delays after after all of the mail processing centers in Kansas were closed.
Those centers are still closed and mail delays have only gotten worse. It is impossible to time the mail when returning a ballot and many voters are also seeing delays on the front end when receiving their ballot.
Voters whose ballots are postmarked by Election Day should have their vote counted if it is received within the three days after the Election.
Bill SB 365 received 55 pieces of opposition testimony for a reason. I encourage you to read the testimony. Proponent testimony focused on the “perception” of election fraud, not that there is any actual fraud taking place under the current law.
We should be educating voters on why some ballots (including provisional ballots) are counted after Election Day versus disenfranchising Kansans who are at the mercy of mail delivery.
This bill does not solve any real problems. We shouldn’t be legislating based on the perceptions of those who haven’t taken the time to educate themselves on the election process.
Please vote no on SB 365.
[Your Name & City]
SB 366 - Example Email
TO: [Your state Senator]
SUBJECT: Vote NO on SB 366Dear Senator _____________,
I urge you to vote no on SB 366. There is no harm in allowing local election offices to send out applications for mail ballots. All completed applications received are subject to the same reviews and control procedures whether the application was directly requested by the voter or sent out by their local election office.
Our election offices are charged with being prepared for every possible scenario to ensure voters can participate in our elections. We know from experience that the ability to send out these advanced applications to voters was imperative in 2020 during a deadly pandemic that made voters fearful of voting in-person
We have no idea what circumstances in the future might warrant the need for a local election office to mail out advance ballot applications. We should not be taking this tool away from them, as was expressed in the opposition testimony from the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials.
Please vote no on SB 366.
[Your Name & City]
A little more you can add to SB 366
If you’d like, here's some additional information you can add to your email.
Even Senator Mike Thompson, the sponsor of this bill, seemed to have no concerns with this process during COVID, as he made sure to let his supporters know on his website that all voters would be receiving an application from the election office. Nothing has changed in the almost 4 years since.
Time to vote out the legislators who create these bills
I’VE GOT A QUICK ACTION ITEM FOR SOME OF YOU
Senator Mike Thompson (R-Shawnee), the ex-weatherman for those who remember him from TV, and Senator Mark Steffen (R-Hutchinson) are two of the biggest supporters of the barrage of bills we’ve been seeing restricting voting rights and endangering public health.
Steffen recently announced he is not running for re-election, so that’s good. But, Thompson has filed to run again and we’ll need people to do more than vote considering his name recognition. Unfortunately, a lot of people probably aren’t aware of his votes in Topeka.
On that note, it would be helpful to know which of our readers:
are in Sen. Mike Thompson’s district,
aren’t in his district but might be interested in helping in some way (examples included), or
who has friends in his district (map of District 10).
You are not committing to anything by filling out this survey. This is the first time I’ve tried a survey, so let me know if you run into any issues getting it to work. Thanks!
More about Thompson
As Six Degrees of Activism has watched Sen. Thompson’s votes in Topeka, it is clear that his votes do not align with the issues we value. He votes against our public schools, supports weakening gun laws, and more.
Year after year, Senator Mike Thompson (R-Shawnee) tries to make it more difficult for people to vote. He feeds perceptions that our elections (and particularly mail ballots and drop boxes) are wrought with fraud. This fall he held a two day Special Elections Committee hearing that was described in headlines as follows:
Voting rights advocates pan Kansas Republican’s ‘invite-only stage for election conspiracies’ Sen. Mike Thompson planned two days of hearings focused on fears about voter registration, advanced ballots - Kansas Reflector
‘Not really tethered to facts.’ KS Legislature gives platform to election misinformation - Kansas City Star
He has also voted in favor of and heavily supported dangerous public health bills and has been one of the main Senators going after the already marginalized LGBTQ community, stoking fears among his base. He spends little time on the things that would really help Kansans, such as fully funding special education, medicaid expansion, or supporting common sense gun laws. Below is just a sampling of headlines referencing his work in Topeka.