A former Republican election official is calling out lawmakers from both parties for harmful, partisan framing of election policy issues rather than focusing on joint solutions to improve voting.

In more than nine years serving as election commissioner for Sedgwick County, Tabitha Lehman said, she saw several instances of policymakers acknowledging election policies they support could suppress the vote of some marginalized Kansans to benefit their party. This frequent and increasingly present partisan bickering on issues of election security has sowed significant public distrust of the system, she said.

Lehman, who was appointed to the election post by former Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, said she has heard many conspiracy theories of voter fraud coming from her own party. But she also expressed concerns with criticism from Democrats over laws she feels are necessary for election security.

“I can see the inequities on both sides and became even more impassioned with standing up for the voters instead of a political party,” Lehman said on a recent podcast recorded by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas. “You want to do what’s right for your voters, and you want to do it in the best way you can, and when your hands are tied by laws that are not in the best interest of the voter, that’s very frustrating and very difficult to work through emotionally.”

Lehman — who was fired from her position earlier this year after violating an IT policy while at home fighting cancer — shared her experiences and lessons learned from her time as an election commissioner on the podcast and in a separate interview with Kansas Reflector. She said time working in the position revealed much about the state of election law and perceptions in Kansas, exposing those twisting civic liberties for their benefit.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Kansas will count all of its college students in the towns where they go to school for redrawing state legislative districts next year.

Since 1990, Lawrence, Manhattan, Emporia and other college towns lost out on the potential political clout those students represented in an archaic and costly census readjustment aimed at preserving rural political power.

“I never really expected (the change) to happen,” said Davis Hammet, who leads the Loud Light group focused on mobilizing young voters.

“I remember like, six, seven years ago reading the Kansas Constitution and thinking about how getting rid of this census adjustment would be one of the most important things for the youth vote and for representative democracy in Kansas,” he said.

Yet in 2019, an overwhelming majority of Kansas voters and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers agreed with Hammet — voting for Kansas to stop spending additional money to readjust the U.S. Census count on college campuses and military bases. Kansas passed a constitutional amendment ending the practice.

Now, communities like Manhattan and Lawrence, home to the state’s largest universities, can expect a louder voice in the Legislature. Still, the power of university towns across Kansas will largely depend on how Republicans controlling the process draw the districts.

New state laws tightening voting restrictions come in two basic varieties: those that make it harder to cast a vote, and those making it more difficult to get registered to vote in the first place.

In Kansas, one law effectively shuts down voter registration drives.

Now, it’s a felony offense to impersonate an election official and the law creates a vague standard for breaking it, a standard that depends on impressions. It criminalizes engaging in conduct that might seem like something an election official would do.

Davis Hammet, president of the Kansas civic engagement group Loud Light, says that subjective standard would probably include work his volunteers do, which is approaching people with clipboards and registering them to vote.

“So, if someone accuses you of being an election official or saying they were just confused and thought you were one, and you were arrested, you would be charged with a felony,” Hammet says. “And so, a felony means you lose your right to vote. So, you could lose your right to vote for trying to help people vote.”

A former Republican election official is calling out lawmakers from both parties for harmful, partisan framing of election policy issues rather than focusing on joint solutions to improve voting.

In more than nine years serving as election commissioner for Sedgwick County, Tabitha Lehman said, she saw several instances of policymakers acknowledging election policies they support could suppress the vote of some marginalized Kansans to benefit their party. This frequent and increasingly present partisan bickering on issues of election security has sowed significant public distrust of the system, she said.

Lehman, who was appointed to the election post by former Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, said she has heard many conspiracy theories of voter fraud coming from her own party. But she also expressed concerns with criticism from Democrats over laws she feels are necessary for election security.

“I can see the inequities on both sides and became even more impassioned with standing up for the voters instead of a political party,” Lehman said on a recent podcast recorded by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas. “You want to do what’s right for your voters, and you want to do it in the best way you can, and when your hands are tied by laws that are not in the best interest of the voter, that’s very frustrating and very difficult to work through emotionally.”

Lehman — who was fired from her position earlier this year after violating an IT policy while at home fighting cancer — shared her experiences and lessons learned from her time as an election commissioner on the podcast and in a separate interview with Kansas Reflector. She said time working in the position revealed much about the state of election law and perceptions in Kansas, exposing those twisting civic liberties for their benefit.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Kansas will count all of its college students in the towns where they go to school for redrawing state legislative districts next year.

Since 1990, Lawrence, Manhattan, Emporia and other college towns lost out on the potential political clout those students represented in an archaic and costly census readjustment aimed at preserving rural political power.

“I never really expected (the change) to happen,” said Davis Hammet, who leads the Loud Light group focused on mobilizing young voters.

“I remember like, six, seven years ago reading the Kansas Constitution and thinking about how getting rid of this census adjustment would be one of the most important things for the youth vote and for representative democracy in Kansas,” he said.

Yet in 2019, an overwhelming majority of Kansas voters and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers agreed with Hammet — voting for Kansas to stop spending additional money to readjust the U.S. Census count on college campuses and military bases. Kansas passed a constitutional amendment ending the practice.

Now, communities like Manhattan and Lawrence, home to the state’s largest universities, can expect a louder voice in the Legislature. Still, the power of university towns across Kansas will largely depend on how Republicans controlling the process draw the districts.

New state laws tightening voting restrictions come in two basic varieties: those that make it harder to cast a vote, and those making it more difficult to get registered to vote in the first place.

In Kansas, one law effectively shuts down voter registration drives.

Now, it’s a felony offense to impersonate an election official and the law creates a vague standard for breaking it, a standard that depends on impressions. It criminalizes engaging in conduct that might seem like something an election official would do.

Davis Hammet, president of the Kansas civic engagement group Loud Light, says that subjective standard would probably include work his volunteers do, which is approaching people with clipboards and registering them to vote.

“So, if someone accuses you of being an election official or saying they were just confused and thought you were one, and you were arrested, you would be charged with a felony,” Hammet says. “And so, a felony means you lose your right to vote. So, you could lose your right to vote for trying to help people vote.”