The ACLU of Kansas will again offer a voter assistance hotline to help with any concerns over the August primary and November general elections.
The Election Protection Hotline is a nonpartisan, statewide, rapid response program by lawyers and on-site poll monitors that is aimed at safeguarding the voting process.
Kansas voters with any issue or question will be able to call the hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) to speak with a trained attorney. The ACLU is working in a partnership with the Kansas City law firm of Stinson Leonard Street, LLC to respond in real time, working with local election officials where needed.
ACLU of Kansas staff attorney Kunyu Ching said in a press release that most of the issues that are expected could be a simple as someone at the wrong polling location because they moved and didn’t update their information. He said “Historically, we’ve resolved the vast majority of calls quickly. In those cases, voters benefitted from just talking to one of our trained hotline attorneys about the next step they could take to make sure their votes counted.” Ching said the ACLU legal team will also be prepared to handle more serious issues.
In August 2022, Kansas voters and hotline volunteers reported that a number of voters at the recreation center in Maize were turned away prior to the poll closing and told to vote at a different location. The ACLU of Kansas immediately contacted the Sedgwick County Election office. In a statement admitting the mistake, the Sedgwick County Election office said that election workers did not have the authority to make that decision, and that the affected voters would be allowed to vote provisionally at another location.
