Kansas secretary of state briefs Senate committee on drop boxes, voter roll maintenance and election security

Secretary of State Scott Schwab told the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee on a briefing that county election officials operate most of Kansas’s election machinery and that the state office provides guidance and limited direct authority for the largest counties.

“We do have 4 counties that I do have direct authority over, and those are the 4 largest, which would be Johnson, Wyandotte, Shawnee, and, of course, Sedgwick,” Schwab said. “The other hundred and 4 county clerks ... are subject to the authority of their county commission.”

Schwab outlined current federal and state laws that shape Kansas election administration and described proposals and operational concerns the office is tracking. He cited the Voting Rights Act of 1965, UOCAVA (1968) for military and overseas voters, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Help America Vote Act as part of the legal framework. At the state level he referenced the 2011 SAFE Act (introduction of voter ID) and said Kansas strengthened election security in 2022 to prohibit tabulators from being connected to the internet.

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