This is the testimony Mainstream is presenting to the Kansas House Elections Committee on January 28, 2021, opposing HB 2054, a bill that would put new limits on how Kansans can return their mail-in ballots, making voting more difficult despite our KS Secretary of State saying there was no fraud in our elections, and no major changes to election law were needed.

House Election Committee
Chair, Rep. Blake Carpenter
Hearing: January 28, 2021

Position – OPPOSE HB 2054

Chair Carpenter, and Members of the Committee,

The Mainstream Coalition opposes HB 2054, limiting delivery of advance ballots.

The right to vote, and have that vote counted, is central to our democracy. Our nation has a long history of struggle with this issue. Luckily, in Kansas, even in the depths of a global pandemic, even with prominent national figures baselessly attacking our election processes, our elections here had no issues of fraud.

“Kansas did not experience any widespread, systematic issues with voter fraud, intimidation, irregularities or voting problems,” a spokeswoman for the Kansas Secretary of State told the New York Times.

This bill would restrict the ability of Kansans to vote—including disabled Kansans—plain and simple. With no fraud in this election, we do not understand why the Legislature would attempt to make voting more difficult. In the words of Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab in testimony before the Senate Ethics, Elections, and Local Government Committee, “We don’t need a drastic change in our election law.”

We ask you to please oppose passage of HB 2054.

Thank you,

Michael Poppa
Executive Director of the Mainstream Coalition