Kansas on voter suppression: “Georgia, hold my beer”

Nov 29, 2006
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Think your vote doesn’t matter? Ask the Republican super-majority in the Kansas state legislature—or better yet, look at what they’re doing.
Just like Georgia’s now-infamous new voter suppression laws, new Kansas bills (Missouri has many too, though that’s a separate story) are part of a national movement to criminalize common elections practices and deepen existing hurdles to vote.
Proponents of these measures—including Kris Kobach’s “top deputy,” former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker—claim this will help stop voter fraud. Opponents describe the bills as a “problem in search of a solution.”
Kansas bills S Sub HB 2183, SB 307, and S Sub HB 2332 would, among other things, make it a felony to help more than five of your friends or neighbors drop off their mail-in ballots, and make it harder to assist people with disabilities to vote.
If you’ve ever felt the stress of receiving a bill in the mail that’s due in a few days, welcome to your new Kansas vote-by-mail laws. Under these proposed changes, voters will receive mail-in ballots later, and all ballots must be received by county elections offices by 7 p.m. on election day, no matter when they are dropped in a mailbox, or they get tossed out.


I really need to get out of this state haha. Tired to being one of the top 5 dumbest conservative states. Is there a top 5, or do they just rotate through so each gets a crack at it?
 

kage69

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
26,968
35,583
136
Democracy is a liability for those who don't believe in it.

Yes, you do. Have an aunt and uncle that fled Kansas, they said it was one of the best decisions they ever made.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,856
4,974
126
Smart move by Kansas. There's shit there to boycott or companies to move out.

Edit: I had to google, and the first hit is "Koch Industries"...
 

Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,599
5,340
106
Whenever possible I try to avoid driving through Kansas.

For years, it was a legal to use of deadly force to protect property in Kansas. I see they updated the law now, it is only legal if it is deemed reasonable now. Big improvement, but still horrifying*.

But yea, for the longest time in Kansas you could off someone for stealing a snickers bar. When I read that, I promptly decided I was going to avoid Kansas even if it added a day to my trips.


*yes, the legislature still feels that murdering someone to protect property from vandalism and theft can be a reasonable course of action... Just be reasonable about it.
 
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IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,851
26,638
136
Whenever possible I try to avoid driving through Kansas.

For years, it was a legal to use of deadly force to protect property in Kansas. I see they updated the law now, it is only legal if it is deemed reasonable now. Big improvement, but still horrifying*.

But yea, for the longest time in Kansas you could off someone for stealing a snickers bar. When I read that, I promptly decided I was going to avoid Kansas even if it added a day to my trips.


*yes, the legislature still feels that murdering someone to protect property from vandalism and theft can still be a reasonable course of action. Just be reasonable about it.
This is why I avoid Texas; the state refuses to recognize human and civil rights.
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,452
9,837
136
Smart move by Kansas. There's shit there to boycott or companies to move out.

Edit: I had to google, and the first hit is "Koch Industries"...
Wichita was the business jet capitol of the world, but that has been failing for a long time too. I'm guessing most business jet customers have no issues with this.
 
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Dave_5k

Golden Member
May 23, 2017
1,555
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In this provided example, limiting time period for mail-in voting I don't see as particularly discriminatory, and may hurt the Republicans as much or more than the Democrats - historically more Republicans have sent in mail-in ballots, up until Trump & COVID. Although the restrictions are still stupid & don't actually solve any known problems. Even if the civil rights act hadn't been gutted, limiting mail-in voting would likely pass muster as not discriminatory on basis of race.

Haven't seen if they've actually been copying or "one-upping" the real partisan vote suppression ideas passed by Georgia - limiting drop box hours to working hours only, restricting number of polling locations in urban areas, restricting funding options for election boards, providing for replacement of bipartisan county election boards with state appointed partisan election managers, or Arizona's plan of throwing out the popular vote altogether and allowing replacement by legislative appointed electors.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,991
23,788
136
In this provided example, limiting time period for mail-in voting I don't see as particularly discriminatory, and may hurt the Republicans as much or more than the Democrats - historically more Republicans have sent in mail-in ballots, up until Trump & COVID. Although the restrictions are still stupid & don't actually solve any known problems. Even if the civil rights act hadn't been gutted, limiting mail-in voting would likely pass muster as not discriminatory on basis of race.

Haven't seen if they've actually been copying or "one-upping" the real partisan vote suppression ideas passed by Georgia - limiting drop box hours to working hours only, restricting number of polling locations in urban areas, restricting funding options for election boards, providing for replacement of bipartisan county election boards with state appointed partisan election managers, or Arizona's plan of throwing out the popular vote altogether and allowing replacement by legislative appointed electors.
While not a racially specific measure the above is explicitly designed to reduce overall voter turnout or out another way suppress votes.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,991
23,788
136
GOP is scared of losing Kansas? Times are a-changin' :)
Not really over all but they are concerned about growth in Johnson and Douglas counties which are trending more blue or even moderate GOP (there are a few left in the legislature but they are being driven out methodically by the new fascists).

I expect they will try to gerrymander the hell out of the 3rd district to try to flip it back to the GOP in 2022.
 

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,493
3,159
136
Suppression laws make me laugh. So, there are no handicapped republican voters in Kansas? And, there are no republicans that drop off ballots for other republicans in Kansas? Every one of these laws / rules equally apply to republicans as well as democrats, and also independents as well as no affixation. The flaw in their plan is with assuming that the suppression will only target democrats and target those whom they hope to suppress. Again, they fail to do the math, as is the case of all the republican controlled states. The plain and simple math is, if the state in question is a republican controlled state then it can be assumed the state has more republicans voters than democrat voters. And if that state decides to suppress any voter, then most likely more republicans will be suppressed than are democrats.

But as with stupidity in general, it takes time for the reality to finally sink in. I mean, after all of the republican controlled states suffer massive republican losses come the next few elections cycles from imposing their voter suppression, you can damn well bet that every republican controlled state will fall over backwards trying to reverse what they have done. All it will take is experiencing even lower republican turnout to scare the hell out of these master-minded republican legislators. They will ask themselves WHAT THE F... HAVE WE DONE?

They can not successfully suppress one party over another unless they outright outlaw the democrat party itself. But I have an even better idea for the republican controlled states if they really want to block people from voting, how about a simple state secession from the union? If republican controlled states don't like the American electoral process, then invoke secession. If they are not part of the union then they can't vote nor can any of the residents. And there you go.... task accomplished.
 

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,785
6,187
126
Not really over all but they are concerned about growth in Johnson and Douglas counties which are trending more blue or even moderate GOP (there are a few left in the legislature but they are being driven out methodically by the new fascists).

I expect they will try to gerrymander the hell out of the 3rd district to try to flip it back to the GOP in 2022.
I saw the "What's the matter with Kansas" author Thomas Frank after the election and he said that affluent Kansas suburbs that were generational GOP strongholds have turned Democrat or at least purple.
Found it:
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,991
23,788
136
I saw the "What's the matter with Kansas" author Thomas Frank after the election and he said that affluent Kansas suburbs that were generational GOP strongholds have turned Democrat or at least purple.
Found it:
The brand of Republicanism that generally works in those counties is pretty moderate on social issues and pro-business. Johnson County generally has great schools county wide due to consistent support for high levels of local school funding and an understanding that paying for good schools is necessary for each successive generation to achieve the success their parents did. It's been shifting way due legislators from more rural parts of the state pushing very conservative social agendas and a general anti-tax attitude that limited what local citizens could decide to pay for schools above the base state level which did not keep pace with inflation. At the same time conservatives took over the basic party posts in Johnson county and have generally waged war on moderate Republicans through primaries.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
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GOP is scared of losing Kansas? Times are a-changin' :)

Kansas has had two female Democrat governors in the past 20 years. One was a two termer even.

Of course there's still plenty of idiocy, so I'm not gonna claim that means they aren't also completely backwards.

Oh, and Republicans hatred of education is gonna bite them hard, as that's one of the few things that average Republican voters in Kansas actually gives a shit about that can't be maniuplated by simple fear slogans. In fact their shenanigans under Brownback (where they threatened to dissolve the State Supreme Court because Republicans cut education after Brownback's tax cuts killed their budget - which was the intended outcome all along), pissed off a lot of them and is likely responsible for the current female Democrat governor. Oh and it should be mentioned that the hatred for Brownback over that shit was so bad that he resigned before the end. Once the other Kochhead dies they might actually be able to unfuck their politics, but we'll see.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,991
23,788
136
I think we have 3 known Kansans here? Myself, darkswordsman17 and brycejones?
I lived in Kansas for decades but moved away about 4 years ago. The JoCo is still home though.

My great grandmother was the register of deeds in Butler county for decades.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,991
23,788
136
Kansas has had two female Democrat governors in the past 20 years. One was a two termer even.

Of course there's still plenty of idiocy, so I'm not gonna claim that means they aren't also completely backwards.

Oh, and Republicans hatred of education is gonna bite them hard, as that's one of the few things that average Republican voters in Kansas actually gives a shit about that can't be maniuplated by simple fear slogans. In fact their shenanigans under Brownback (where they threatened to dissolve the State Supreme Court because Republicans cut education after Brownback's tax cuts killed their budget - which was the intended outcome all along), pissed off a lot of them and is likely responsible for the current female Democrat governor. Oh and it should be mentioned that the hatred for Brownback over that shit was so bad that he resigned before the end. Once the other Kochhead dies they might actually be able to unfuck their politics, but we'll see.
The Koch’s have set their kids up to continue their political legacy. They will keep pouring money into Kansas for Prosperity and no tax conservative candidates.

If anything the kids are worse. They have an attitude that they deserve their massive wealth. The fathers at least had to put the work into building the businesses that they did.
 
Nov 29, 2006
15,600
4,050
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I lived in Kansas for decades but moved away about 4 years ago. The JoCo is still home though.

My great grandmother was the register of deeds in Butler county for decades.

Cool. My mother was from Topeka but i grew up in San Fran bay area mostly. But i've lived in JoCo longer now than my time in CA was haha. I'm old and time flies. I do wish to move though someday.
 

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,785
6,187
126
The Koch’s have set their kids up to continue their political legacy. They will keep pouring money into Kansas for Prosperity and no tax conservative candidates.

If anything the kids are worse. They have an attitude that they deserve their massive wealth. The fathers at least had to put the work into building the businesses that they did.

Why can't Charles Koch be more like his brother David?
 
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VRAMdemon

Diamond Member
Aug 16, 2012
6,447
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The Republicans may be stepping on their dicks somewhat here. It isn’t just Democratic voters who are using early balloting, drop boxes, permanent absentee, etc.. They aim to prohibit drive-through voting, limit the number of ballot drop-off locations, and restrict local officials’ ability to publicize voting by mail. In particular, the attempts to reign in absentee and early voting seems like a double-edged sword. They’re basing it off one very anomalous election during a pandemic where proportionately more Democrats than normal voted using these methods. The blue collar whites who make up more and more of the Republican vote lately have as much trouble as others finding time to go vote during the middle of a working day. And plenty of retirees who spend all day watching Fox News vote absentee.

That’s why some of the more nefarious aspects of Republican voting “reform” seek to shift responsibility for verifying votes away from local precincts and into (Republican controlled) centralized bodies of these states. That way even if Democrats overcome the hurdles to actually get their votes properly submitted, the new overseers can find just enough “irregularities” to question the outcome, or make sure they can get the outcome they want.

Red state legislators could refuse to accept certification of results from heavily blue counties. That’s what they wanted to do last year.
 
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Mar 11, 2004
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The Koch’s have set their kids up to continue their political legacy. They will keep pouring money into Kansas for Prosperity and no tax conservative candidates.

If anything the kids are worse. They have an attitude that they deserve their massive wealth. The fathers at least had to put the work into building the businesses that they did.

Once the other brother dies, that company is gonna tank hard. The kids are not gonna be able to manage a fossil fuel company in a world that is looking to move on from fossil fuels. They can pump all the money they want into politics, its just going to hasten their demise.