Voter Registration - ID Requirement - Acceptable Forms of ID - Early Voting - Absentee Voting - Provisional Voting - Sample Ballots - Type of Primary

State Contact Information

Kansas Secretary of State
Memorial Hall, 1st Floor
120 SW 10th Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612-1594

Telephone: (785) 296-4564

Fax: (785) 291-3051

Email: election@kssos.org

Website: http://www.kssos.org/

Voter Registration

Who is qualified to vote in Kansas?

In order to register to vote, the person must be:

• 18 years of age or older
• A U.S. citizen
• A resident of Kansas

How to register to vote?

Online: The form is available by clicking here. Eligible persons can download the form, fill it out, and send it to their local county election office.

In-person: Qualified persons can also register to vote at their local county election office or at the Secretary of State’s office, in addition to many banks, grocery stores, libraries, public events such as county fairs, and other county offices.

ID Requirement

First-Time Voters
The federal Help America Vote Act mandates that all states require identification from first-time voters who registered to vote by mail and did not provide verification of their identification with their mail-in voter registration. “First-time voter” includes any person who has never before voted in any official election in the county where registering, or who was previously registered but was canceled and has re-registered. Identification may be provided at the time of registration or any time thereafter, when voting, or during the period after voting a provisional ballot but before the county canvass.

Acceptable Forms of ID

• Kansas driver’s license or Kansas non-driver’s identification issued by DMV
• Bank statement: checking or savings account statement, interest statement
• Utility bill: Gas bill, electric bill, water bill, telephone bill (cellular or land line), cable television bill
• Paycheck: Paycheck stub, notice of electronic deposit, W2 form
• Government check, Medicare or Medicaid check, SRS check, WIC check, other public assistance check
• Other government document:
  • US military ID card
  • College student ID card, passport
  • Nursing home roster if on government form (such as filed with KDHE, Aging)
  • Federal/state/county/local government employee ID
  • Pilot’s license
  • Hunting or fishing license
  • Gun permit
  • Ham radio operator’s license issued by Federal Communications Commission
  • Naturalization document (if it has name and photo or name and address, as stated above) Vehicle registration
  • Copy of DMV change of address form
  
  

Early Voting (open)

Kansas has a “no-excuse absentee” system, which allows any registered voter to choose to vote before Election Day. For in-person advance voting in the election office, the election officer must begin the process on Tuesday one week before Election Day, but may begin it earlier, any time up to twenty days before the election. In-person advance voting ends at noon the day before the election. The in-person advance voter signs the application at the advance voting site and receives the ballot.

Absentee Voting/Vote By Mail (open)

No advance ballot may be issued to any voter unless the voter has signed an application for a ballot. This may be done through the mail, by fax, or in person. The end of the application period for mailed advance ballots is always the Friday before the election, although in many situations the applications need to be submitted earlier to allow sufficient time for mailing the ballots and returning them.

Provisional Voting (county)

A provisional ballot results when a registered voter changes his/her name, or changes addresses within the county, and fails to re-register before the election. When there is any doubt about a voter’s eligibility to vote at the precinct where the voter attempts to vote, a provisional ballot should be provided, even if the voter is apparently unqualified. The facts of the matter can be investigated after Election Day before the county canvass.

Note: If a residence change occurs outside the county to another location within the state within the 30-day period before an election and the voter has not re-registered, the voter may qualify to vote a former precinct ballot.

Sample Ballots

County election officers may also obtain and distribute ballots or lists of candidates and other questions to be voted upon on paper of any color authorized by rules and regulations adopted by the secretary of state stamped "SAMPLE BALLOT" in large letters, and these ballots, lists of candidates and other questions to be voted upon shall be used for educational purposes and the distribution shall be for such purpose.

Type of Primary (open)

Registered voters who are unaffiliated may affiliate with either the Democratic or Republican party at the polling place on the day of the partisan primary election (August of even-numbered years) and vote that party’s ballot. However, in some cases they might not be required to affiliate before voting in the primary. Courts have ruled that each party may determine who may vote in its primary. Thus, a party may continue with a closed primary as Kansas law has prescribed since 1908, or it may choose to allow unaffiliated voters or members of other parties vote in its primary. The state cannot pass laws dictating who may vote in a given party’s primary.