The Chair of the Kansas Republican Party, Kelly Arnold, is urging legislators to support the bill to move local elections. He says it’s about increasing turnout but also says, “The vast network of politically active people, who engaged wholeheartedly in the even-year general election, currently have almost no time, given the intervening holiday period, to re-focus on local elections before the January filing deadline. Moving the local elections to the fall, with a mid-year filing deadline, will allow substantially more engagement by the people of Kansas in assessing local issues, recruiting candidates, and engaging in the election process. There is no legitimate downside.” He concludes, “Your support for this CCR 2104 is critical to the Kansas Republican Party.”

So is this about voter turnout or mobilizing the party machine (which often opposes moderate Republicans) and injecting all that entails into our local elections? We also disagree there is no downside (primaries in August when school families are on vacation, taking office in the middle of the school year, partisan politics deterring citizen stewards from running).

Your legislators are hearing from Mr. Arnold. Are they hearing from you?

Update: The bill to move local elections passed the House on May 21st.