photo by: Shutterstock photo

Kansas Statehouse in Topeka

Topeka — The Kansas Senate on Tuesday approved a senator’s efforts to ensure all voting systems in Kansas use a paper ballot with a distinctive watermark.

Senate Bill 389, introduced by Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, R-Galena, also requires a hand audit of these ballots after the election. Currently, Kansas requires election clerks to physically stamp each ballot, but Hilderbrand said he brought the bill to ensure that human error wouldn’t come into play.

In a hearing earlier this month, voting rights advocates raised concerns about the impact of the bill on Kansans with disabilities and the cost for counties to print new ballots. Those concerns were echoed by Senate Democrats, who said the bill would not address any real issue.

“I am happy to support things that will make our election process more secure. I don’t see any way that this would do that,” said Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, during debate over the bill on Monday. “I also know that we are putting all the cost of this on our counties, and it is not something that any of my county residents have asked for.”

The state would not incur any costs, although counties would incur costs related to ballot printing and additional wages for election board workers.

“How much is peace of mind worth? Two cents?” Hilderbrand said. “I’ll put my two cents in.”

The Senate gave preliminary approval to the bill on Monday, then passed it 27-11 on Tuesday.

A provision in the measure authorizes a risk-limiting audit. This provides a confidence assessment for each race to allow election offices to focus their attention where it is needed most.

Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat, opposed imposing an unfunded mandate that didn’t address a clear problem. He also expressed concerns about unintended or unforeseen ramifications of the bill.

“I don’t want us to head into another costly taxpayer-funded lawsuit like we’ve done several times with election-related bills,” Corson said. “I want to make sure at least from an (Americans with Disabilities Act) perspective that we’ve kicked the tires on this one.”

Opponents also said some parts of the legislation seemed sloppy, including a lack of clear guidelines for the sample audit and mislabeled section numbers in the bill.

Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab has previously said that Kansas elections are safe and secure and that there have been no signs of voter fraud.

Still, Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, said he thought there was a lack of faith in the election process among people across the state. He said ensuring that Kansans felt that their vote was secure and the process was well protected was crucial.

“Our voters, more and more, are upset,” Olson said. “They’re not believing in the process we have. This is just one more tool that will say every ballot is legit.”

— Noah Taborda reports for Kansas Reflector.