Photo by Stephen KorandaToday (TUE) is the deadline in Kansas to register to vote or update your registration before the November election. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew (“shoe”) says it’s important to update your registration address if you’ve moved, even if it was only a short distance.
“In Douglas County we have 100 different ballots. So, even though you move across the street, that street might be the dividing line between two state representatives. So it’s a completely different ballot that you would vote,” says Shew.
People registering to vote for the first time in Kansas need to prove their citizenship. The most commonly used documents for that are birth certificates and passports. Shew says you can turn in a registration form before the deadline and then provide the citizenship documents before the election.
“So you need to meet the deadline as far as registering, and then you can follow up with that info up until the day before the election. It’s important that you go ahead and get your registration in,” says Shew.
Shew stresses that the citizenship requirement is only for new Kansas voters. People who are already registered somewhere in Kansas don’t need citizenship documents to update their registration.