Hays Post
With the Aug. 2 primary election just weeks away, the Ellis County Attorney is reminding residents of the rules regarding campaign signs, advertisements and apparel in and around polling locations.
In a press release Wednesday, Ellis County Attorney Robert Anderson Jr. aimed to clarify the Kansas law regarding electioneering.
“Given the polarizing nature of the 'Value Them Both Amendment,' which will be voted on August 2, 2022 (early voting beginning Monday, July 18, 2022), I felt it necessary to educate the public on the most common violation of our election laws: 'Electioneering.' "
Anderson said the most common form of electioneering are placing political signs and wearing political clothing to close to polling sites.
“K.S.A. 25-2430, 'Electioneering,' makes it a crime (class C misdemeanor) for any person to knowingly attempt to persuade or influence eligible voters to vote for or against a particular candidate, party or question submitted . . . within any polling place on election day or advance voting site during the time allowed by law for casting a ballot by advance voting or within a radius of 250 feet from the entrance thereof,” Anderson said.
Advanced voting in Ellis County starts on Monday, July 18 and Anderson said individuals who have banners or advertisements displayed within 250 feet of a polling location must take them down before election day.
“For those of you who will appear in-person to cast a vote, the law requires that you dress accordingly and leave any other political materials at home,” Anderson said.
The entire release is below:
There are thirty statutes in chapter 25 which criminalize conduct specific to elections. Some of the conduct prohibited is obvious and instinctive (you can’t vote more than once), while other prohibited conduct is not as obvious or instinctive. Additionally, each statute has some degree of ambiguity, which of course does results in technical violations of the law by otherwise well-meaning, passionate, and patriotic citizens.
Given the polarizing nature of the “Value Them Both Amendment”, which will be voted on August 2, 2022 (early voting beginning Monday, July 18, 2022), I felt it necessary to educate the public on the most common violation of our election laws: “Electioneering”.
The most common forms of “electioneering” are: (1) having political signs posted too close to voting sites; and (2) wearing political clothing/hats inside, or too close, to voting sites.
K.S.A. 25-2430, “Electioneering”, makes it a crime (class C misdemeanor) for any person to knowingly attempt to persuade or influence eligible voters to vote for or against a particular candidate, party or question submitted . . . within any polling place on election day or advance voting site during the time allowed by law for casting a ballot by advance voting or within a radius of 250 feet from the entrance thereof.
The specific conduct this statute aims to prohibit includes (but may not necessarily be limited to) wearing, exhibiting, or distributing labels, signs, posters, stickers or other materials that clearly identify a candidate in the election or clearly indicate support or opposition to a question submitted for election (inside any polling place or voting site, or within a 250-foot radius, during early voting and on election day).
This statute is meant to keep our polling places/voting sites (and a 250-foot radius around them) neutral - free of political advertisement.
For those of you who have signs, banners, or other advertisements displayed, the law requires that you take them down once voting begins if they are within 250-feet of a voting site. For those of you who will appear in-person to cast a vote, the law requires that you dress accordingly and leave any other political materials at home.
Our local election officials on-site will do their best to identify violations and provide corrective instruction on a case-by-case basis.