Secretary of State unveils county procedural-audit checklist for election offices

The Secretary of State's general counsel, Clay Barker, told the committee the proposed regulation formalizes procedural inspections of county election offices following a 2022 statutory directive. Barker said the office piloted a checklist in four counties in 2023 and four more in 2025, incorporating feedback and Legislative Post Audit findings into the current draft.

"The regulation you have, proposed regulation you have before you, is essentially a checklist for procedural inspections of county election offices," Barker said, adding the inspections examine both submitted records and on-site processes including equipment records, chain-of-custody paperwork, poll-worker training records, ADA accessibility equipment, and the storage of cast ballots.

Lawmakers asked whether audit reports are public and what format they should expect. Barker said the inspection results are open records (subject to security exemptions) and that the office can provide either inspection reports or summaries upon open-records requests. He described the typical product as a compact checklist-style report showing whether items were satisfactory and why and said the office uses findings to train counties and prevent mistakes previously identified by Legislative Post Audit.

The committee asked if the regulation is new and how Kansas compares with other states. Barker said Kansas was an early adopter of procedural audits, having been among the first states to require them in statute, and tailored its regulation to local needs and federal-security standards; the office also incorporated Attorney General and Department of Administration input.

Ending: Committee members asked the Secretary of State to provide audit records to interested legislators and requested summaries that could inform future policymaking and training efforts.