This letter is in response to the article posted on July 9, 2020, by Laura Allen declaring her write-in candidacy on the Democratic ballot for Ellis County Clerk. I am Bobbi Dreiling and I am currently the Ellis County Deputy Clerk. I have been in this position since January 2013. I would like to address Ms. Allen's comments, assumptions and untruths she put forth in her letter.
Ms. Allen: “I don't see why the Clerk's office can't work timely and efficiently with other offices."
Fact: The Clerk's office does work timely and efficiently with all offices of Ellis County. Ms. Allen is invited to come to the County Clerk's office and ask either myself or Clerk Maskus how the tax roll process works, the obstacles that are placed before us, and how we work through it.
Ms. Allen: “I have watched as Ellis County has struggled with handling elections, being the last County to report to the State the results.”
Fact: Ellis County has not struggled with any elections and has never been last to report to the State. Our office reports unofficial results the night of election and official results after the Board of Canvassers meet to certify results.
Ms. Allen: “... purging thousands of voters because of wrong addresses, and other things."
Fact: I will presume Ms. Allen is referring to the mail ballot election that was just held. While we had 1,061 ballots returned to our office (not thousands) because of insufficient addresses, we did not purge any voter from the voter roll (KSA 25-2316d) KSA 25-2531(d)(2) allows the voter to stay on the voter roll for two federal elections before taken off the voter roll. No voters were purged contrary to Ms. Allen's statement.
Ms. Allen: “I watched the last election as it was revealed that the machines used in Ellis County were defective and not reliably reporting the true results of the election."
Fact: The last election was November 2019 (City/School) the new voting equipment was in place and there were no problems. This election was entirely paper ballot based and an audit was conducted per KSA 25-3009.
Ms. Allen: “The response of the County Clerk was to spend $350,000 on yet more machines.”
Fact: The County Clerk spent exactly $121,456.50. Ellis County citizens can visit the Clerk's office to review any expenditures of the County.
Ms. Allen: “Now, we have another new system that is inappropriate for our times." Ms. Allen said “for decades elections were held by casting votes on paper ballots."
Fact: Our new voting system is entirely paper ballots.
Ms. Allen: “I am not part of the 'good ol' girl network and want to break that cycle."
Fact: The position for the Ellis County Clerk is not automatically handed down to the next person in line. Ms. Allen has grossly misrepresented how the election process works. Every Clerk must run for this office and be elected by the electors of Ellis County.
Ms. Allen: “I will make it so that any citizen can access minutes of meetings, voter registration information, tax parcels, boundary lines, personnel contact information, apply for passports. No more will people need to worry about whether the office is open over lunch hour or past 4 o'clock."
Fact: All of the aforementioned information is accessible online, some via the County Clerk's office, others via other County offices (i.e. Treasurer's, Appraiser's offices). Per Federal law, a US Citizen must appear before a passport agent in order to complete the application process; the form itself is available online to fill out ahead of the actual personal application. The County Clerk's office is open through the lunch hour and the 4 o'clock closing was voted on and decided by the County Commissioners.
In closing, the above information should clear up some of Ms Allen's comments and concerns about the County Clerk's office. As we near election day, Ellis County voters can take the above factual information to help determine their vote for this position. It is obvious experience and firsthand knowledge do play a big part in the Clerk's position.
Bobbi Dreiling, Ellis County Deputy Clerk