Topeka ? The Kansas House on Wednesday gave first-round approval to a bill that would prohibit candidates for state and federal races from withdrawing from the ballot except in the case of death and requiring political parties to name another candidate whenever a vacancy occurs on the ballot.

House Bill 2104 was requested by Secretary of State Kris Kobach in response to controversy last year when Democrat Chad Taylor withdrew from the U.S. Senate race against incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, leaving independent candidate Greg Orman as the only significant challenger.

Rep. Mark Kahrs, R-Wichita, who chairs the House Elections Committee, called that incident a case of “political tomfoolery” and said it should not be allowed in the future.

“Thousands of Democratic voters who voted for Chad Taylor to be their nominee to challenge Sen. Roberts were disenfranchised when Chad Taylor was removed from the ballot,” Kahrs said.

Shortly after the August primary last year, polls showed Roberts vulnerable in his re-election bid, especially if he had only one major opponent instead of two. But with a Democrat and a well-funded independent in the race, many believed Roberts would probably survive.

Democrats at the time were struggling to prevent Republicans from taking control of the U.S. Senate, and so pressure soon mounted on Taylor to pull out of the race in favor of Orman, despite the fact that Orman would not publicly commit to caucusing with the Democrats if he won.

Taylor withdrew from the race Sept. 3, a month after winning a contested Democratic primary.

Kobach, a Republican, initially refused to accept the withdrawal, arguing that Taylor did not comply with a statute saying he must declare that, if elected, he would be unable to fulfill the duties of his office. But Taylor countered that by citing the statute in his withdrawal letter, he had effectively made such a declaration, even though he continued serving as the Shawnee County District Attorney.

The Kansas Supreme Court agreed with Taylor and, on Sept. 18, ordered his name be taken off the ballot.

A private citizen then filed suit in Shawnee County District Court seeking an order for the Democratic Party to name another candidate. But a three-judge panel denied that request, in part because the petitioner in that case failed to show up in court on the day of the hearing.

Roberts ended up winning his re-election bid by roughly a 53-43 percent margin.

But Democrats argued that it will create problems in the future if a candidate becomes incapacitated but doesn’t die. They also called it a partisan bill by Republicans who didn’t like the outcome of a Kansas Supreme Court decision.

“You know, the pendulum swings both ways on issues up here, and sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for,” said Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka.

The bill advanced to final action on an unrecorded 80-40 vote. The House is expected to take final action on Thursday. If approved, it will be sent to the Senate for consideration.