The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Kansas over a buffer area intended to prevent electioneering at polling places but that it says is stifling free speech.
The ACLU sued Secretary of State Scott Schwab over a policy that it says gives local election officials the ability to restrict speech within 250 feet of a polling location if they think it will be a nuisance.
The ACLU also names Johnson County Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker in the lawsuit, saying he is enforcing the policy against nonpartisan election workers.
“While Defendant Schwab retains authority to enforce provisions of the election code, he also provides county election officers with broad discretion to enforce election crime and polling place control laws within their jurisdiction,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit contends that Metsker’s office bans nonpartisan election protection signs “because they could cause a voter seeking assistance to engage in electioneering.”
The suit says Metsker or his employees banned nonpartisan election protection workers who were only trying to make sure that voters could cast a ballot.
Established by state law, the Kansas buffer zone is one of the largest in the country around any polling place, the ACLU says.
The Kansas law is the only one in the country that does not exempt private property located within the boundaries of the buffer zone, the civil liberties group says.
A spokeswoman for the secretary of state declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday afternoon. A spokesman for Metsker declined to comment, as well.
The ACLU brought the federal lawsuit on behalf of four plaintiffs, including Rosanne Rosen, who was prohibited last year from providing assistance to Johnson County voters under the policy.
Rosen volunteered to work as an election protection worker at the Crossroads Church RCA in Johnson County last Aug. 8.
She sat in a lawn chair outside of her car in the parking lot, about 150 feet from the entrance to the polling location.
She held up a sign that read, “ELECTION PROTECTION VOLUNTEER 1-866-OUR-VOTE,” according to the lawsuit. The sign also had a graphic of the Statue of Liberty.
Rosen’s sign did not identify a party, candidate or ballot issue. She did not approach any voters.
After about 40 minutes, a poll worker told Rosen she was “electioneering” and was ordered to move at least 250 feet away from the polling location.
“Ms. Rosen would like to provide nonpartisan election protection support during the 2020 elections in Johnson County, and during other elections…but fears she will face criminal penalties under Defendant Metsker’s application of the electioneering statute,” the lawsuit states.
Metsker’s buffer-zone limits are “not narrowly tailored to serve the government interest of preventing electioneering and interference with elections, or any other legitimate interest,” the lawsuit states.
“There is no justification for banning non-electioneering speech, signs, and assembly over thousands of square feet of private and public property near a polling location in the name of guarding against electioneering,” the suit states.
The ACLU is asking a judge to declare the buffer zone unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it “prohibits a substantial amount of protected speech without leaving open alternative channels.”
