For more than 160 years, mail-in voting has been a fixture of American democracy, especially in Kansas. During the Civil War, Union soldiers stationed far from home were granted the right to vote by mail, a practice that laid the foundation for absentee voting as we know it. Kansas, in fact, ...

Gov. Laura Kelly has received national media attention this summer for resigning from the National Governors Association and joining a lawsuit against the federal government over the release of appropriated funds. These actions reflect the current, charged political climate. But beneath the ...

Can Republicans score some congressional seats by gerrymandering maps in Texas and other states? If Kansas’ experience is any guide, the answer is, it’s complicated. In 2002, the Kansas Legislature targeted the KC-area 3rd District, then represented by Democrat Dennis Moore. They ...

When Vicki Schmidt, Kansas’ insurance commissioner, announced her run for the Republican nomination for governor with a folksy campaign video, some folks giggled at its earnestness. For my part, I liked it, mostly because, with its emphasis on non-ideological practicality, it reminded me of ...

Just two years ago, Democrats were on the verge of achieving their long-awaited green energy revolution. Biden had reversed Trump’s fossil fuel initiatives and set an ambitious goal for all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be zero-emissions. He signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a ...

Make no mistake. It’s coming. An invasive non-native species of podcasters, influencers, tech bros, reality TV stars and spurned college students aboard the disinformation train destroying a healthy democratic habitat faster than out-of-work loggers at a spotted owl convention. While much ...