Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 126 deals with election recounts and times election polls are open. The bill establishes new procedures for posting a bond for recounts of statewide national and state elected offices, including: the President and Vice President of the United States, offices of Representatives in the United States Congress, Kansas State Senate or House of Representatives whose district is located in two or more counties, and offices of the Kansas State Board of Education.

Under the bill, candidates requesting a recount would have to post a bond with the Secretary of State stipulating which counties to be recounted. Candidates for the office of State Senator or House of Representatives and the State Board of Education may post a bond with the county election officer as stipulated in current law.

The bill authorizes the Secretary of State to determine the amount of the bond based upon costs to the affected counties and to the Secretary of State. If the candidate requesting the recount is declared the winner, then the counties would bear the costs incurred for the recount.

The bill requires the Secretary of State to notify each county election officer affected by the recount and any candidate involved in the recount. If the candidate cannot be reached then the state chairperson for such candidate would have to be notified.

The bill requires the state to pay the costs of a candidate requesting a recount for the abovementioned offices if the election result difference between the winning candidate and the next closest candidate in vote count is one-half of one percent or less of the total number of votes cast.

Under the bill, recounts would be conducted as prescribed by current law.

The bill sets the time election polls in Kansas are open in the central time zone to coincide with election polls in the mountain time zone.

Background

SB 126, as introduced, was requested by the Secretary of State. A representative of the Secretary of State testified that currently a candidate for a statewide office has to file a bond in each county where a recount is to be conducted.

The Senate Committee on Elections and Local Government amended the bill to clarify that the state chairperson should be notified if the candidate cannot be reached and to include Representatives in the U.S. Congress in the recount.

The House Committee on Ethics and Elections amended the bill to include members of the State Senate and House of Representatives and the State Board of Education who would be required to post a bond with the Secretary of State. The Committee also amended the bill to include recounts when the difference in votes is less than one-half of one percent. Finally, the Committee made the times for election polls to be open to coincide with different time zones, so that election results would not be known in one time zone before the polls close.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi