LWVJoCo Continues Collaboration With New Election Commissioner

One of the League’s most important functions is to make sure elections officials understand voters’ needs. The pandemic put a premium on this role. LWVJoCo collaborated with the Johnson County Election Office (EO) to support efforts to inform voters of changes because of COVID and to disseminate details about polling times and locations. Our volunteers donated 352 hours processing mailed ballot applications and ballots.

This spring, LWVJoCo Vice President Janet Milkovich and I visited with Fred Sherman, Johnson County’s new election commissioner, and Josh King, assistant election commissioner, to make sure our fruitful collaboration with the EO continues. Although Sherman is new to the role, he is a 30-year veteran of local government administration and was deputy election commissioner in 2020 under Connie Schmidt.

 Here are a few takeaways from our constructive conversation:

 Vote by mail

 Voters can still vote by mail in 2021, but the Johnson County Election Office will not be sending all registered voters mail ballot applications automatically as it did in 2020 when the pandemic started. Sherman said several factors drove that decision, including the considerable expense of mailing and processing applications as well as the fewer number of races in 2021. (This year, voters will elect representatives to city councils, school boards, Johnson County Community College and water districts.)

 Voting Centers/“Anywhere Voting” bill

 Johnson County will continue directing voters to their assigned precincts on Election Day at least until the 2023 elections. A 2019 bill was designed to allow residents to vote at any polling place in their county on Election Day, instead of just the assigned precinct. Although the bill allows each county to decide whether to implement voting centers, state law bars counties from doing it until Secretary of State Scott Schwab finishes the rule-making process.

Distrust of the electoral process

Despite statements from local and state election officials attesting to the integrity of the 2020 elections in Kansas and the lack of data corroborating voting fraud claims, Sherman and King agreed that confidence in our electoral process has been shaken. During the 2020 elections, Sherman said he fielded calls from voters who wanted to see their actual cast ballot to make sure it was counted. He had to tell those voters that although whether you voted is public, each ballot is private and sealed, and largely indistinguishable from every other cast ballot. Instead, he described the checks and balances -- ballot reconciliation and balancing -- conducted throughout the process to ensure that each vote is counted. 

Sherman and King encouraged people who have questions about the process to volunteer. Seeing it up close is the best tool we have to build trust in the process, King said. 

Continue the conversation

 LWVJoCo is grateful to Sherman and King for their willingness to talk with us about these and many other issues. And we will continue checking in with them to see how our members can support their efforts to meet voters’ needs.

 Sherman and Michael Abbott, the new election commissioner of Wyandotte County, will be the guests at our June 6 program. Register now to find out what their leadership means for regional voters.

• April 21: South Central – Newton

• April 27: Johnson and Wyandotte Counties

• April 28: Southeast – Iola

• April 29: North Central – Salina

• May 4 – 5: Southwest – Dodge City

• May 13: Sedgwick County

• May 18: Northeast – Manhattan

• May 19: Shawnee / Douglas Counties

🏫 Attention Wyandotte County Voters: Join Dotte Votes on Wednesday, April 28, at 6:15 p.m. for the KCKPS Board of Education Candidacy Dialogue Zoom webinar in partnership with the Wyandotte County Election Office, The Voter Network/Voter to Voter, Servicing LIPPS, a branch of the HEAT CAB, and the KCK NEA Chapter to provide this nonpartisan space around community engagement. The event is not a platform to promote candidates or endorse candidates. Register here.

👍 New Leader for LWVJoCo’s Voter to Voter team: Kudos to Spencer Smith for agreeing to organize LWVJoCo members in MainStream Coalition’s relational get-out-the-vote program. Spencer takes over for Jill Quigley, who led our team for the past three years. In 2020, 19 LWVJoCo members touched 262 voters, with a voter turnout rate of 94%. Contact lwvjocovi.org to join our powerful Voter to Voter team.

👏🏽 First Virtual Legislative Coffees a Big Hit: Nearly 250 people attended our four Legislative Coffees in March and April. Thank you to Debbie Kitchin and Marie Hernandez, voter information co-chairs, for their work with our partner, Johnson County Library, to provide voters with safe opportunities to interact with their elected officials during the pandemic.  

🏘️ Housing Equity Program: More than 60 people attended our program on April 8 to explore how the community is addressing the need for more housing options for people of all income levels in Johnson County. Thank you to Vice President Janet Milkovich for facilitating an engaging discussion with community leaders about this important issue. If you weren't able to join us, you can watch the video here. Please take the time to review United Community Services of Johnson County's Community Housing Study as well.

🔆 Delegates to the State Convention: Thank you to LWVJoCo members who represented our League as voting delegates at the state convention on April 24: Susan Horst, Dorothy Crooks, Debbie Kitchin, Marie Hernandez, Tinna Hung, Mary Lou Jaramillo, Connie Taylor, Leslie D. Mark, Ellen Miller, Lynn Hardy, Jerry Gilson, Janet Milkovich, Karin Leacox, Kathleen Morrow, Eileen Manza, Robyn Hart, Christine Rankin, Danielle Keller, Amber Stenger 

📣 Voter Suppression Bills Go to the Governor: Kansas lawmakers in both houses advanced bills that would add restrictions to mail-in voting and put complete control of the election process in the hands of the legislature. Learn more about LWVK's Policy Watch. Please continue to contact your Kansas representative and senator and the governor to let them know that you disapprove of this voter suppression. We want the governor to veto these bills and the legislature to fall short of overriding the veto.

Stay Current: Read about latest work of Leagues throughout the state in the latest issue of LWVK’s VOTER Notes newsletter.