Sunflower State News

The voting transparency website VoteRef.com has announced that Kansas has been added to its online registration database, joining a growing number of states using the service.

Operated by the Voter Reference Foundation, VoteRef.com keeps an updated file of registered voters and their most accurate information in order to “shed light and track voter maintenance issues on a national scale,” a May 19 VRF release said. The organization announced that Kansas, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., had been added to its records, bringing the total voter coverage by VRF to 35% of the nation.

In all, VRF has 22 states on its list, as well as Washington, D.C.

Gina Swoboda, VRF executive director | Republican Party of Arizona/Twitter

“We are making sure the public is able to easily access the public records they pay for,” Gina Swoboda, executive director of VRF, said in the release. “This is public data, but very few agencies make it easy to review — that’s unacceptable in 2022.”

VRF believes voter list transparency “is a key component of restoring public trust in elections,” the release said. The organization’s aim is to track all 50 states in the hopes that municipalities will “take on the responsibility of keeping their records up-to-date and online 24/7.”

By reviewing certified election data, VRF’s database can show discrepancies between the number of voters and the number of votes cast, an earlier VRF release said. Any discrepancies found would be indicators that better record keeping and accountability need to be implemented.