Sunflower State News

Republican primary candidate for Kansas Secretary of State Mike Brown has pledged to abide by voter integrity guidelines established by a coalition of conservative groups, led by the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI).

Brown’s pledge was one of more than 30 pledges ETI has received since the pledge request, with an accompanying questionnaire, was sent in May, said ETI National Chairman Ken Cuccinelli.

“It's a first of its kind effort in the election space, and it is still happening,” Cuccinelli told the Sunflower State News in an email. “And when we say 'sent out,' realize that members of the entire coalition and grassroots Americans are pushing these to candidates and asking for answers!

“We're very happy with the overall response,” he added. “A very high percentage of returns for something that is a first time undertaking. We attribute that to the acknowledged importance of the election issue to ordinary voters - candidates are responding!”

In a statement, ETI said that Brown, who is challenging incumbent Scott Schwab, pledged to support election administration, legislation, litigation and regulations that will guarantee fair elections.

The list of voter integrity measures include voter including voter ID, ballot security, tighter controls on absentee voting, banning private financing of local elections, and banning ballot trafficking – the third-party collection of mail ballots.

Schwab, Cuccinelli said, did not reply to the pledge request or the questionnaire.

“It’s worrisome when any candidate seeking re-election declines to explicitly state his position on matters of such importance to voters, especially election integrity,” Cuccinelli, referring to Schwab, said in a statement. “As a candidate running to retain his position as the state’s chief election official responsible for administering fair and secure elections, it should be a red flag for any Republican voter that Schwab isn’t willing to commit himself to a detailed accounting of election integrity issues.”

Schwab's office -- he was first elected in 2018 -- did not respond to a request for comment.

In May, Schwab told the Kansas Reflector that 300 post-election audits had been conducted; none found any errors in voting procedures.

“Folks from out of state have come in and insulted the Kansas election system,” Schwab said on a Kansas Reflector podcast. “And, they haven’t read our laws. They’ve never been here on Election Day. They’d never watched the tabulation process. They’ve never been a poll worker.”

In the questionnaire, candidates can answer “yes,” “no,” or “unsure” to 31 statements under six categories listed. The categories include: voter roll maintenance and registration, citizens-only voting, voter ID and ballot security, absentee voting, accountability and transparence, and outside influences in elections.

A statement under citizens-only voting, for instance, reads: "Illegal aliens and non-citizens should not be voting in U.S. elections, thereby ensuring that only U.S. citizens decide the outcome of U.S. elections."

The pledges for both candidates for the state legislature and secretary of state asks them to promise to support the voter integrity safeguards established by ETI and the other groups.

Other groups aligned with ETI in the effort include: the Tea Party Patriots Action Fund, Citizens United, Restoration PAC, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, American Majority Action, Americans for Citizen Voting, FreedomWorks, American Principles Project, Fight Voter Fraud, Independent Women’s Voice, FRC Action, AMAC Action and Americans for Limited Government.

The Kansas primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 2.