Voter Registration Qualifications

Qualifications to Submit a Voter Registration Application

Certain amendments of the U.S. Constitution provide that citizens of the United States over the age of 18 shall not be denied the right to vote based on their race, color, or previous condition of servitude (15th Amendment); sex (19th Amendment); or age (26th Amendment). The 24th Amendment states citizens of the United States shall not be denied the right to vote in a federal election for failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Article 2, Section 5 of the Kansas Constitution states that no person convicted of a felony under any state or United States law shall be qualified to vote, unless pardoned or restored to that person’s civil rights. KSA 21-6613 specifies that a person convicted of a felony shall be ineligible to vote from the moment of conviction until such person has completed the term of the authorized sentence.

Additionally, Kansas statute allows a voter registration application to be submitted by a citizen not yet 18, so long as such citizen turns 18 by election day.

Voter Registration Applications

In order to register to vote, qualified citizens may apply in person, by mail, through a voter registration agency, or by other delivery to a county election officer. This includes the Kansas Online Voter Registration housed on the Kansas Department of Revenue’s website.

When applying to register to vote, an applicant will need to supply enough information as is necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations. This information can include, but is not limited to:

• Place of residence, including specific address or location and mailing address if the residence is not a permissible postal address;
• The last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security number;
• The applicant’s full driver’s license or non-driver’s identification card number;
• The name under which the applicant previously registered to vote, if different from present name; and
• The residence at time of last registration or voting, if the applicant had previously registered or voted elsewhere.

Additionally, each applicant must sign a statement swearing or affirming the following are true of the applicant:

• The applicant is a citizen of the United States;
• The applicant is a resident of Kansas;
• The applicant will be 18 years old before the next election;
• If convicted of a felony, the applicant’s civil rights have been restored; and
• The applicant has abandoned their former residence or other name.

The penalty for submitting a false voter registration application is a maximum presumptive sentence of 17 months imprisonment.

Proof of Citizenship Injunction

HB 2067 was enacted in 2011, which required applicants to submit documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) with their voter registration application. This provision was temporarily enjoined in 2016 by the district court in Fish v. Kobach.

The court held that the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) preempts Kansas law, and the Kansas DPOC requirement violated provisions of the NVRA prohibiting states from requiring information that duplicates information required for a driver’s license application. In 2018, the law was permanently enjoined for violating the NVRA and infringing on the right to vote under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In 2020, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the permanent injunction.

Though this section of Kansas statute has been enjoined, the Legislature has not passed a bill to remove the section.