(Photo by Stephen Koranda)Tomorrow (TUE) is the final day for Kansans to register to vote or update their address before the Kansas primary election on August 5 th. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, there’s also still time to provide missing citizenship documents that are keeping voter registrations from being processed.
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Anyone who’s registering to vote for the first time in Kansas needs to provide a document proving that they’re a U.S. citizen. Andrew Howell is Shawnee County’s election commissioner.
“There are several different documents that are acceptable, but I really tend to say if you have a birth certificate or you have a passport or U.S. naturalization document that meets the requirements, then those are probably the ones that we’re more certain are consistently available to people and you won’t make a mistake or make an assumption,” says Howell.
There are thousands of Kansans who have submitted registration forms, but they are on hold because the citizenship documents weren’t turned it. The secretary of state’s office says voters have up until the day before the election to turn in the documents so they’re eligible to cast a primary ballot on election day.
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A law that took effect this year also bars Kansans from switching political parties before the primary election. Kansans currently can't switch political parties until September. But voters who are registered as unaffiliated can still add a political party to their registration and vote in the primary.