8 July 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – We’re less than a month away from the Primary Election in Kansas. A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union finds that accessibility to voting in the Sunflower State depends on where you live.
The ACLU of Kansas says there are several key factors that expand accessibility for voters.
“More days of early voting, more hours of early voting, smaller polling places, language access,” said Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas
In Sedgwick County, voting materials are only in English, but there are other ways voting has been expanded in the last decade.
“We offer early voting two weeks prior to the election, and then we open satellite locations,” said Laura Rainwater, Sedgwick County Election Commissioner.
Early voting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at times when most people are working. Satellite locations will open for longer hours but not until the Thursday before the election.
“We’re talking about expanding satellite location hours to possibly the entire two weeks prior to the election,” said Rainwater,
Kubic says that isn’t the case for all counties in Kansas.
“In Shawnee County, one of the largest, most prosperous counties in the state, there is only one early voting location for the entire early voting period,” said Kubic.
Kubic urges voters to reach out to their county election offices to encourage them to provide more options for voting.
In Sedgwick County, Rainwater says she is requesting more funding from county commissioners to provide more advanced by-mail ballots to help shorten lines on Election Day.
Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote in the Aug. 1 Primary Election.