LAWRENCE, KS – The Kansas Green Party bill to reduce the number of signatures required for official party recognition has been introduced in the House Elections Committee as House Bill 2578! The next step for us to get our bill passed is to get a hearing on the bill and convince the committee to vote to pass the bill out of committee!

Passage of our Ballot Access Reform Bill will be a game-changer for the Kansas Green Party! After a successful petition drive, it will allow Kansas voters to register as Green and it will allow us to nominate our own candidates if we petition under the new law. We need your help to get our hearing and a favorable vote from the committee!

The next step for us to get our bill passed is to get a hearing on the bill and convince the committee to vote to pass the bill out of committee!

Click this link to download and view the text of the bill.

Click this link and type in your street address to find your state representative. Call and email your representative to ask them to support our bill! Please attach a copy of the bill text to your emails!

We also need you to contact each member of the House Elections Committee and ask for a hearing on House Bill 2578 and to vote to pass the bill out of committee:

• Emil Bergquist - Phone: 785-296-7681;  [email protected]
  
  
• Jesse Borjon - Phone: 785-296-7374;  [email protected]
  
  
• Vic Miller - Phone: 785-296-7365; [email protected]
  
  
• Kenneth Collins - Phone: 785-296-7698;  [email protected]
  
  
• Michael Dodson - Phone: 785-296-7402;  [email protected]
  
  
• Leah Howell - Phone: 785-296-7567;  [email protected]
  
  
• Tatum Lee - Phone: 785-296-7396;  [email protected]
  
  
• Heather Meyer - Phone: 785-296-5413;  [email protected]
  
  
• Cindy Neighber - Phone: 785-296-7690; [email protected]
  
  
• Dan Osman - Phone: 785-296-7680;  [email protected]
  
  
• Pat Proctor - Phone: 785-296-7357;  [email protected]
  
  
• Chuck Smith - Phone: 785-296 -7426;  [email protected]
  
  
• John Toplikar - Phone: 785-296-7658;  [email protected]
  
  

Here are some talking points to use when contacting your representative and the members of the Elections Committee:

The current Kansas statute for official political party recognition requires a new party to collect a number of petition signatures equal to 2% of the total number of votes cast in the last Governor's election. Based on the votes cast in 2018, the number of signatures currently required is 21,112. Kansas law also requires that the signatures be collected within 6 months.

Kansas's law is one of the most restrictive in the country, especially considering Kansas's small population. Realistically it would require tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the law. In fact, the law has not been complied with since before 2012.

Currently, there are only three recognized political parties in Kansas, the Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. In order to encourage more participation and competition in Kansas elections, we need more political parties and less restrictive ballot access laws!

Our bill cuts the required number of signatures in half and extends the period for collection to 1 year.

We greatly appreciate your help! The more people that contact their representatives and the members of the elections committee, the better chance we will have to change the law!

Sincerely,

Teresa Wilke, Co-Chair
Kent Rowe, Co-Chair
Paul Krumm, Treasurer
Nick Blessing, Secretary

Kansas Green Party
kansasgreenparty.org
[email protected]