Ellis County, state officials begin process of purging voters from rolls

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Kansas residents with incomplete voter registrations now have 90 days to complete that registration before they are removed from the voter rolls.

The rule by Kansas Secretary of State’s office went into effect Friday, directing county election officials to remove those voters who are in suspense at the end of the 90 days.

Ellis County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus said, as of last week, there were 274 Ellis County registrations that her office is not able to process because of a lack of proof of citizenship.

Ellis County Clerk Donna Maskus — Ellis County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus

Maskus said registrations that do not include proof of U.S. citizenship are not considered a registration, and are considered incomplete or inactive.

In April 2011, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections Act, which required anyone registering to vote in Kansas after Jan 1, 2013, to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.

Maskus said those with incomplete a registration can provide a birth certificate, a passport or naturalization documentation to meet the citizenship requirement.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, one of the reasons for removing the incomplete registrations is to save money. Elections offices send out reminders to those with incomplete registrations, and Maskus said in some cases her office has sent five reminder letters.

“I feel like we have really reached out to those voters, and if they signed the registration card,” she said, “I want to get them registered.”

Maskus said it has been discouraging for her office because it is hard to get in contact with some of the people on the list and, because people move more often, they might not be able to get in touch with them. Some of those on the Ellis County list may not even live in Ellis County anymore, Maskus said.

In Ellis County, the number of incomplete registrations covers all ages, according to Maskus.

With the presidential election in 2016, Maskus said those who have incomplete registrations should not wait to finish the process.

She also said if you are not sure if you are on the list, you can call the county clerk’s office at (785) 628-9410 or stop by the County Administration Office at 718 Main in Hays.

Once the 90 days is up, those who have not completed the registration will have to register all over again.

The Secretary of State’s office said there are more than 31,000 incomplete registrations statewide.