ACLU questions Atchison’s decision to shut down primary voter registration early

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The deadline for registering to vote in the August statewide primary is July 12.

Everywhere in Kansas, it seems, except in the city of Atchison.

The city of Atchison stopped registering new voters on June 23, drawing the ire of residents and a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union that the move violated federal law.

Registration for voting closed on June 23 because the city called a special sales tax election to raise money for streets for July 14.

The election date meant that the deadline for registering to vote for the city election – under state law – was June 23.

The June 23 deadline did not apply to the rest of Atchison County or anywhere else in Kansas.

The controversy comes just before Kansans are expected to vote on the single biggest constitutional amendment in a generation and decide whether abortion should be a protected right in the state constitution.

They also will be voting in hotly contested Republican primaries for state treasurer and attorney general.

The Atchison City Commission heard complaints about the deadline at its meeting this week, including a request from Republican Party Chairman Mike Kuckelman to call off the sales tax election. The commission did not act on the request.

Residents said there was little notification about the change in the registration date and there appeared to be little consideration of changing the voter registration deadline when the city election was called for July 14.

They also expressed concern about how Atchison might be framed in national news coverage of the abortion amendment if voting rights emerges as an issue.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas on Thursday sent a letter to the county clerk and the city attorney, saying the city’s refusal to register new voters after June 23 violates federal law.

Sharon Brett, the ACLU’s legal director, says the National Voter Registration Act requires voter registration for any federal election to be open 30 days before the election or by the state deadline, whichever is closer.

In Kansas the state deadline is 21 days before the election, or July 12 for the Aug. 2 primary.

“We are not sure if the City Council was aware of these requirements in federal law when it elected to hold the special election on July 14,” Brett wrote.”

“Regardless, registration must be reopened for the primary election and those who have been turned away must be given the opportunity to register,” she wrote.

She reminded the city that the state is within 30 days of holding a primary election and that anyone affected by failure to keep registration open as required can bring a lawsuit immediately.

The city insists it followed state law.

“We don’t have any control over voter registration deadlines – those are set by state law,” Assistant City Manager Joe Warren said in a statement posted on the city’s website.

“We do feel bad that some people may not have been aware of the alternate timeline set due to the existence of a special ballot question being a few weeks from the Primary date. We have followed state law throughout this process.

“The election is already underway with absentee and advance voting already taking place. It would be unfair to those who met the registration deadline and have already cast a vote to cancel or move the election now.”

Kuckelman said the decision to have already stopped registering new voters was “patently unfair” to voters, especially with the abortion amendment on the ballot.

Kuckelman noted the irony of Atchison shutting down voter registration early when the county played an important role in Kansas adopting a free-state constitution in 1859.

He pointed out that Atchison County was the home of former U.S. Sen. John Ingalls, who was a driving force behind the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention that brought Kansas statehood.

“They don’t want to be a party of depriving people of voting for a constitutional amendment. It’s just crazy,” he said of the city commission.

“The only place right now in the entire state of Kansas that you can’t register to vote up until July 12 is the city of Atchison,” he said.

“It’s amazing that it would be the city of Atchison that would be the only place that someone can’t register to vote in a year when we’re addressing a constitutional issue,” he said. “Shocking.”

The Kanas secretary of state’s office doesn’t control local elections. The office issued a statement saying it would work to protect voters’ right.

“We will continue working with the Atchison County Clerk to ensure the rights of each voter are protected,” the office said, “and every legal voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot in the August primary election.”