HB 2138 – Expands State Oversight Over Elections

Political Deep Dive

Most people are more aware of who is in Washington D.C. controlling the federal government; however, those at the state level are lesser known, and yet they have more control over our lives. Through our Political Deep Dives (PDD), you can see how YOUR representatives have voted on bills that affect your day-to-day life. In this PDD, we will be focusing on HB 2138—Providing for the use of electronic poll books in elections and the approval of such books by the secretary of state, requiring all voting systems for elections to use individual voter-verified paper ballots with a distinctive watermark, requiring the secretary of state and local election officers to develop an affidavit to be signed by election workers regarding handling of completed ballots, requiring audits of any federal, statewide or state legislative race that is within 1% of the total votes cast and requiring randomized audits of elections procedures used in four counties in even-numbered years, requiring a county election officer to send a confirmation of address when there is no election-related activity for any four calendar year period and exempting poll workers from certain election crimes.

This information is available thanks to kslegislature.org; ballotpedia.org; and votesmart.org

Highlights of this bill include:

• Establishes affidavit system for transfer of ballots (Page 1).

• Requires regular audit of county elections by Secretary of State (Page 1).

• Requires paper ballots for all elections after January 1, 2024 (Page 1).

• Exempts certain candidates from electioneering prohibition (Page 6).

• Prohibits voting systems that connect to Internet (Page 9).

A Conference Committee Report Brief Senate Substitute for HB 2138 can be found here.

This bill was first introduced to the House on Tuesday, January 26, 2021. It was replaced by a substitute on April 8, 2021 and had a nonconcurrence vote on April 9, 2021. It went on to pass the Senate 28-8 on Friday, April 1, 2022. This is how our Kansas Senators voted on the bill.

(Political Party, District number, Voted Yes/No/Did not vote/Not applicable)—Names that are crossed out are politicians that voted on these issues but, for one reason or another, are no longer in the House or Senate.

**If you are unsure what districts you are in, you can click here to find out.

Dennis D. Pyle (R,1,Y), Marci A. Francisco (D,2,DNV), Tom Holland (D,3,N), David Haley (D,4,N), Jeff Pittman (D,5,N), Pat Huggins Pettey (D,6,N), Ethan Corson (D,7,N), Cindy Holscher (D,8,N), Beverly Gossage (R,9,Y), Mike Thompson (R,10,Y), Kellie Warren (R,11,Y), Caryn Tyson (R,12,Y), Richard Hilderbrand (R,13,Y), Michael A. Fagg (R,14,Y), Virgil Peck Jr. (R,15,Y), Ty Masterson (R,16,Y), Jeff Longbine (R,17,Y), Kristen O’Shea (R,18,Y), Rick Kloos (R,19,Y), Brenda S. Dietrich (R,20,Y), Dinah H. Sykes (D,21,N), Tom Hawk (D,22,DNV), Robert S. Olson (R,23,Y), Jeremy Ryan Claeys (R,24,Y), Mary Ware (D,25,N), Dan Kerschen (R,26,Y), Gene Suellentrop (R,27,DNV), Mike Petersen (R,28,Y), Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D,29,DNV), Renee Erickson (R,30,Y), Carolyn McGinn (R,31,Y), Larry W. Alley (R,32,Y), Alicia Straub (R,33,Y), Mark B. Steffen (R,34,Y), Richard Wilborn (R,35,Y), Elain S. Bowers (R,36,Y), Molly Baumgardner (R,37,Y), Ronald Ryckman (R,38,Y), John Doll (R,39,Y), Rick Billinger (R,40,Y)

HB 2138 passed the Senate 28-8 with all 28 Republicans voting in favor of the bill and all 8 Democrats voting against the bill. Four Senators did not vote including 3 Democrats and 1 Republican.

After the Senate voted to pass the bill, it moved to the House which voted on the bill on Tuesday, April 26.

Michael Houser (R,1,Y), Kenneth Collins (R,2,Y), Charles “Chuck” Smith (R,3,Y), Trevor Jacobs (R,4,Y), Mark Samsel (R,5,N), Samantha M. Poetter Parshall (R,6,Y), Richard J. Proehl (R,7,Y), Chris Croft (R,8,Y), Kent L. Thompson (R,9,N), Christina Haswood (D,10,N), Jim Kelly (R,11,Y), Doug Blex (R,12,Y), Joe Newland (R,13,Y), Charlotte Esau (R,14,Y), John M. Toplikar (R,15,Y), Linda Featherston (D,16,N), Jo Ella Hoye (D,17,N), Cindy Neighbor (D,18,Y), Stephanie Sawyer Clayton (D,19,N), Mari-Lynn Poskin (D,20,N), Jerry Stogsdill (D,21,N), Lindsay Vaughn (D,22,N), Susan Ruiz (D,23,N), Jarrod Ousley (D,24,N), Rui Xu (D,25,N), Adam Thomas (R,26,Y), Sean E. Tarwater Sr. (R,27,Y), Carl Turner (R,28,Y), Heather Meyer (D,29,N), Brandon T. Woodard (D,30,N), Louis E. Ruiz (D,31,DNV), Pam Curtis (D,32,N), Tom Burroughs (D,33,N), Valdenia Camille Winn (D,34,N), Broderick T. Henderson (D,35,N), Kathy Wolfe Moore (D,36,N), Aaron Coleman (D,37,N), Timothy Johnson (R, 38,Y), Owen Donohoe (R,39,Y), David W. French (R,40,Y), Pat Proctor (R,41,Y), Lance Neelly (R,42,Y), William “Bill” Sutton (R,43,DNV), Barbara W. Ballard (D,44,N), Mike Amyx (D,45,N), Dennis J. Highberger (D,46,N), Ronald B. Ellis (R,47,Y), Dan Osman (D,48,N), Megan Lynn (R,49,Y), Fred C. Patton (R,50,Y), Ron L. Highland (R,51,Y), Jesse Borjon (R,52,Y), Jim Gartner (D,53,N), Ken Corbet (R,54,Y), Annie Kuether (D,55,N), Virgil Weigel (D,56,N), John Alcala (D,57,N), Vic Miller (D,58,N), Blaine Finch (R,59,Y), Mark Schreiber (R,60,DNV), Francis Awerkamp (R,61,Y), Randy Garber (R,62,Y), John R. Eplee (R,63,Y), Susan L. Carlson (R,64,Y), Lonnie G. Clark (R,65,N), Sydney Carlin (D,66,N), Mike Dodson (R,67,Y), Dave Baker (R,68,N), Clarke Sanders (R,69,Y), John E. Barker (R,70,Y), Steven K. Howe (R,71,Y), Avery Anderson (R,72,Y), Les Mason (R,73,Y), Stephen Owens (R,74,Y), Will Carpenter (R,75,Y), Eric L. Smith (R,76,Y), Kristey S. Williams (R,77,Y), Ron Ryckman Jr. (R,78,Y), Cheryl Helmer (R,79,Y), Bill Rhiley (R,80,Y), Leah Howell (R,81,Y), Blake Carpenter (R,81,NA), Jesse Burris (R,82,Y), Henry M. Helgerson Jr. (D,83,Y), Gail Finney (D,84,N), Patrick Penn (R,85,Y), Stephanie Byers (D,86,N), Susan Oliver Estes (R,87,Y), Chuck Schmidt (D,88,N), Kelechi “KC” Ohaebosim (D,89,N), Steve Huebert (R,90,Y), Emil M. Bergquist (R,91,Y), John Carmichael (D,92,N), Brian Bergkamp (R,93,Y), Leo G. Delperdang (R,94,Y), Tom Sawyer (D,95,N), Tom Kessler II (R,96,Y), Nick J. Hoheisel (R,97,Y), Cyndi Howerton (R,98,Y), Susan Humphries (R,99,Y), Daniel R. Hawkins (R,100,Y), Joe Seiwert (R,101,Y), Jason Probst (D,102,N), Ponka-We Victors (D,103,N), Paul Waggoner (R,104,Y), Brenda K. Landwehr (R,105,Y), Lisa M. Moser (R,106,Y), Susan L. Concannon (R,107,Y), Steven C. Johnson (R,108,Y), Troy L. Waymaster (R,109,Y), Ken Rahjes (R,110,Y), Barbara K. Wasinger (R,111,Y), Tory Marie Arnberger (R,112,Y), Brett Fairchild (R,113,Y), Michael Murphy (R,114,Y), Boyd Orr (R,115,Y), Kyle Hoffman (R,116,Y), Tatum Lee (R,117,Y), James “Jim” Minnix (R,118,Y), Bradley Ralph (R,119,Y), Adam C. Smith (R,120,Y), John Resman (R,121,Y), Bill Clifford (R,122,Y), John P. Wheeler Jr. (R,123,Y), Martin Long (R,124,Y), Shannon Francis (R,125,Y)

HB 2138 passed the House 82-40. 80 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. 36 Democrats and 4 Republicans voted against the bill. Three House members did not vote including 1 Democrat and 2 Republicans.

After the House passed HB 2138, the bill was presented to Democrat Governor Laura Kelly on Friday, May 26. Governor Kelly approved the bill on Tuesday, May 10.