Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach on Friday ordered the League of Women Voters of Kansas and in Leavenworth to stop handing out gift cards to students who register to vote.
Acting on a complaint from Republican state Rep. Pat Proctor, Kobach ordered the league to cease and desist from the practice immediately, saying it was illegal under federal law.
Kobach said public posts from the local league chapter advertised and depicted distribution of $5 Starbucks gift cards to students who registered to vote, including a table sign reading, “Register to vote get a $5 Starbucks gift card.”
He said federal law makes it a crime to knowingly pay a person “either for registration to vote or for voting.” Violations are punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison.
He said he referred the case to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Under state law, the attorney general said it is a crime to offer any benefit to induce a person to vote.
“The conduct which the League of Women Voters is alleged to have engaged in appears to violate both federal and state law,” the attorney general wrote in a letter to Marlene Merrill, president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas.
“These prohibitions are essential to ensuring the integrity of state and federal elections,” he wrote.
“Beyond the direct corruption of the election, paying people to register destroys public confidence in elections, which is essential to the functioning of our participatory democracy.” he wrote.
Kobach is up for re-election this year.
The letter directs the League of Women Voters of Leavenworth County to:
- Immediately stop offering cash, gift cards, or any other item of value in connection with voter registration or voting;
- Preserve all records relating to the activity, including financial records and registration forms collected.
- Identify every instance in Kansas in which the organization distributed cash, gift cards, or other items of value in exchange for voter registration or voting.
- Respond in writing within 30 days with that information and confirm that the practice has stopped.
A representative of the league could not be reached immediately for comment on Friday afternoon.
Last week, Proctor, who is running for secretary of state, announced that he had requested Kobach to investigate the League of Women Voters for offering gift cards to high school students in exchange for registering to vote.
In May 2026, Proctor alleged that the League held voter registration drives at Lansing High School and Leavenworth High School and then publicized its activities on its Facebook page and website.
“I have, for many years, heard reports of this organization engaging in activities that call into question its supposed nonpartisan status and could well jeopardize its tax-exempt status,” Proctor said in a statement.
“But this activity is not just rank partisanship; it’s illegal,” he said.
“Paying people to register to vote is a federal crime,” Proctor said. “Even worse, they placed these high school kids in legal jeopardy as well, as it’s also illegal to accept a gift in exchange for registering.”
He requested that the children involved in the case not be prosecuted.
