Should all local elections in Kansas be moved to November? That's what state lawmakers are pondering as they consider a proposal to move municipal and school board elections from the spring to the fall.
Today (FRI), election officials told a group of lawmakers that the change likely would not save money, and would make running elections more complex. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew says adding more races to the fall election would require a larger variety of ballots.
“So you add more poll workers, you add more technology and so forth. And those are all ways to mitigate the complexity that occurs but there’s a cost to it,” says Shew.
Supporters of the move hope it could increase voter turnout in local elections. But there are critics who say moving the elections may make them partisan. Municipal elections in the state are currently non-partisan affairs.