Topeka — When it comes to major changes in election laws, state lawmakers say count Kansas out.
Following Florida's vote-counting confusion in last year's presidential race, many states are rushing to fix potential problems in their election laws. But Kansas legislators say little here is broken, and no one outside the Statehouse is complaining.
Despite the lack of interest, Sen. Mark Gilstrap, D-Kansas City, ranking minority member on the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee, said state law may need some tweaking.
But so far, only small proposals are winning approval.
Gov. Bill Graves' plan to require an automatic recount in close statewide elections hasn't advanced out of committee.
Lawmakers don't buy that Kansas is similar to Florida.
"For example, we haven't had punch card ballots for 20 years, or something like that," said Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson.
The Senate did pass a bill proposed by Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh that would allow candidates in statewide elections to post one bond to pay for recounts in more than one county.
The Senate also has approved other minor changes. One proposal allows for electronic filing of campaign finance reports. Another bill would clarify a law on provisional ballots, or ballots that elections officials set aside because they don't know whether the voters were eligible to cast them in their precincts. The third bill would require the last four digits of a person's Social Security number on a voter registration form.
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