Those who support nonpartisan, local school board elections need to understand how several bills moving through our legislature would change that.
“The House Elections Committee has recommended that the full House pass a Kobach bill to restore straight-ticket voting in Kansas.
“Combine that with a proposal by Gov. Sam Brownback, which Kobach supports, to move elections for local and judicial races from the spring to the fall, and you can see where this is headed. Brownback and Kobach would love nothing more than to engineer a partisan takeover of local races by creating long ballots with a tempting option at the top to simply vote the ticket.
“Kobach, who has the gift of saying astounding things with a straight face, told the committee he thought voting in Kansas should be more convenient. This, remember, is the official who sent 20,000 citizens into ‘suspended’ voting status last year, forcing them to jump through hoops even if they registered properly under federal law.”
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article9300452.html