House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2086 - Committee on Federal and State Affairs
Short Title
Amending statutes concerning election procedures and election officials.
Minutes Content for Mon, Mar 20, 2023
Jason Long, Office of Revisor of Statutes, gave an overview of the bill. He stated HB2086 makes various amendments to election statutes, and is largely a cleanup bill with technical modifications. He briefly explained each section. (Attachment 1)
After questions of the Revisor, the Chairman called for proponent testimony.
Proponent Oral Testimony
Clay Barker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (SOS), spoke as a proponent of the bill. He stated this is a large bill, and is the SOS's main legislative priority for this session, and is needed to clean up and fix problems within election law statutes. He said the bill changes 95 provisions of statutes, including 32 to improve administration, 21 to get rid of obsolete provisions, 15 to clarify vague and outdated terms, 14 to address conflicting laws, 9 dealing with transparency, and four to strengthen security. He noted his written testimony has a chart showing each section and the changes needed. He said a cleanup bill has been needed for 30 years, and will improve voter confidence. (Attachment 2)
Rick Piepho, Harvey County Clerk and Election Officer, and Chairman of the Elections Committee of the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials Association (KCCEOA,) spoke as a proponent of the bill. He stated the association supports the bill, and key for his organization is the extension of time for the special elections and he said the recount time frame statutes as written were not workable. (Attachment 3)
Proponent Written Only Testimony
None
The Chairman opened for a period of questions and answers. Seeing no more questions, the Chairman called for neutral testimony.
Neutral Oral Testimony
Earl Glenn, private citizen and retired data scientist, spoke as neutral on the bill. He stated we should approach all aspects of this bill with security in mind. He has an issue with signature verification algorithms, which are not accurate when done by machines. He has concerns about inactive voters, and stated in his district a candidate lost by three votes. He was able to identify 12 inactive voters in that district, and said we need more checks and balances in that area. He also has concerns about voter participation centers sending out multiple mailings during election periods, and with the systems to resolve voter registration problems. (Attachment 4)
With no questions for Mr. Glenn, the Chairman called for opponent testimony.
Opponent Oral Testimony
Benee Hudson, private citizen, spoke as an opponent of the bill. She stated she has a data science background, and held up a spreadsheet of all the changes to the election statutes in the bill, which was about six feet long when taped together, end to end. She said it took her ten hours to read the bill. She discussed several of the sections that caused her concern, including using scanned ballot images in recounts, because she believes there is evidence some ballots have been photocopied. (Attachment 5)
Thad Snider, private citizen, spoke as an opponent of the bill. He said he views this as a coverup bill, not a cleanup bill, and reiterated that photocopies of digital images should not be used in audits. He said the Legislative branch is the lawmaking branch, not the Executive body (Secretary of State). He presented and explained a chart entitled "The Manipulation Cycle of Election Law". He stated the only way to have a secure, verifiable election is to use hand marked paper ballots that are counted out in the open for everyone to see. (Attachment 6)
Calvin Hayden, Johnson County Sheriff, spoke as an opponent of the bill. He stated he has had numerous people come in and complain about elections irregularities they have witnessed, and the SOS's office wouldn't address their concerns, nor would the former Attorney General. He said they are still currently investigating irregularities, and there is a complete lack of transparency in the election process. In their investigation they identified over 15 statutory violations, and there are no criminal penalties in the statues to hold people accountable. (Attachment 7)
Maria Holiday, Chair, Johnson County Republican Party, spoke as an opponent of the bill. She stated for the last several years, they've been hearing from the Secretary of State's Office that our elections are secure. And then, they received a 54 page bill listing all the problems in the current election system. She said the bill is so large, there's space to hide many things. (Attachment 8)
Mike Brown, Chair, Kansas Republican Party, spoke as an opponent of the bill. He stated the bill is a monstrosity, labeled as a transparency and technical correction bill. He said you can see it's not about deleting old language, but eliminates due process from those who have a grievance, and bring it to the SOS's office or other law enforcement agency. He said the most direct way to tighten up elections is to add penalties and consequences for election crimes, and without safe and secure elections, we have absolutely nothing. (Attachment 9)
Roger Lomshek, private citizen, spoke as an opponent of the bill. He showed an image of a three foot space where poll agents were forced to stay within during the last election, which was in front of, and to the side of the poll workers, where they could not see what was happening. They asked for the SOS of state to intervene, and they said the election officers had latitude to do what they wanted. (Attachment 10)
Opponent Written Only Testimony
Bret Anderson, private citizen (Attachment 11)
Missy Leavitt, private citizen (Attachment 12)
Jannel Munk, private citizen (Attachment 13)
Jill O'Connor, private citizen (Attachment 14)
Dale Lucas, private citizen (Attachment 15)
Debbie Detmer, private citizen (Attachment 16)
Stephanie Nguyen, private citizen (Attachment 17)
Jamie Sue Potter, private citizen (Attachment 18)
Karen Arbo, private citizen (Attachment 19)
Mary Buffo, private citizen (Attachment 20)
Lynn Fairbanks, private citizen (Attachment 21)
Bret Boule, private citizen (Attachment 22)
Seth Graber, private citizen (Attachment 23)
Kari Sue Vosburgh, private citizen (Attachment 24)
Will Hoerl, private citizen (Attachment 25)
Kevin McDonald, private citizen (Attachment 26)
Kay Montee, private citizen (Attachment 27)
Penny Linthicum, private citizen (Attachment 28)
Derek Waggoner, private citizen (Attachment 29)
Rebecca Wetter, Norton County Republican Party Chair (Attachment 30)
Lucas Swingle, private citizen (Attachment 31)
Martin Tinker, private citizen (Attachment 32)
After a period of questions and answers, the Chairman closed the hearing on HB2086.
The Chairman adjourned the meeting at 11:44 am.
