Topeka Capital-Journal, The: Election reform has politicians sparring

Helping America vote

To comply with sweeping reforms mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act, Kansas passed an election reform bill this session. If signed by the governor, Kansas voters would see several changes. Among them:

- All voters would have to show proof of identification at the polling site

- A statewide database of registered voters would be established

- Accommodations would have to be made so anyone with a disability could vote alone and in private

- New voting machines would be placed in all 2,400 polling sites in the state, which could cost in excess of $14 million

- Anyone waiting in line to vote when the polls closed could cast a provisional ballot

Senate minority leader says if passed, legislation could cause $32 million loss

By Chris Grenz

The Capital-Journal

A key Democrat is urging Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to veto sweeping election reform legislation that has cleared both chambers this session, but the state's chief elections official said such a move could be costly.

Legislatures across the country have taken up election reform this year in response to a landmark election bill passed by Congress in October 2002. The federal legislation, called the Help America Vote Act and sparked by the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida, ordered states to comply with changes or lose federal funding --- $3.9 billion total --- and risk having the federal Department of Justice intervene in state election issues.

But Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said Wednesday that a bill headed to Sebelius would go further than the federal government required. And by encouraging the Legislature to do so, Hensley contended, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh has placed the state at risk of serious sanctions, including the loss of up to $32 million in federal money over the next four years to pay for reforms and equipment.

"The Secretary of State has been playing Russian roulette with this," Hensley said in an interview on Wednesday.

Under the federal reform law, states must require first-time voters who register by mail to show proof of identification when they vote. But the Kansas statute would require all voters to show proof of ID every time they voted. Hensley asked Sebelius to veto the measure so lawmakers could pass a new bill complying with the minimum standards.

"This is a solution in search of a problem," he said of the bill as it now stands.

But Thornburgh --- who as the head of the national secretary of state's association last year played a key role in drafting the federal reform legislation --- said Kansas would be forward-looking with this approach. Under the federal law, first-time voters would be treated differently than a repeat voter. Potentially, that could lead to a lawsuit if the first-time voter felt singled out, Thornburgh said.

"What I'm trying to do is make sure that we treat every voter the same," he said.

Hensley said the added requirements could lead to suppression of votes or hurt voter turnout. Thornburgh said there is no evidence to support those claims in the states that already require all voters to show an ID.

Rep. Don Myers, R-Derby and chairman of the House Ethics and Elections Committee, said the Kansas proposal would reduce the handful of potential fraud cases that crop up in Kansas each election cycle.

"That's probably one of the most important things we did," he said.

The federal requirement for a first-time voter to show an ID came up because of fraud in St. Louis when several votes were cast by names who had never voted before but had registered and voted by mail.

"Their dogs were voting," said Sen. Barbara Allen, R-Overland Park and chairwoman of the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee.

Sebelius hasn't had time to fully digest the bill, said her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran-Basso. But she has met with both Thornburgh and Hensley.

"There are issues on both sides that the governor is looking at," Corcoran-Basso said. "She is weighing things carefully. Right now, it's too premature to say anything else."

Chris Grenz can be reached at

(785) 296-3005 or cgrenz@cjonline.com.

See REFORM, page 4D

Reform: 'Make sure we treat every voter the same'

Anthony Hensley

Online

Listen to a senator from Topeka discuss why he believes a bill headed to the governor could hurt the election process.