SESSION OF 2023
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 2053
As Recommended by Senate Committee on
Federal and State Affairs
Brief*
Senate Sub. for HB 2053 would amend election law to
provide for a presidential preference primary to be held on
March 19, 2024, and would establish voter registration and
voting procedures for such election.
2024 Presidential Preference Primary Election (Section 4)
The bill would require, on March 19, 2024, each political
party that is a recognized political party participating in
primary elections in accordance with current law to hold a
presidential preference primary election for the purpose of
electing the preferred nominee of the political party for the
office of President and Vice President of the United States.
[Note: This requirement would not apply to any political party
whose candidate for Governor did not poll at least 5 percent
of the total vote case for all candidates for Governor in the
preceding general election.]
The bill would authorize any political party to submit
written notice to the Secretary of State (Secretary) on or
before December 1, 2023, that such political party has
elected to not participate in the presidential preference
primary election.
____________________
*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.kslegislature.org Candidate for a Political Party Nomination (Section 5)
The bill would require a candidate for a political party
nomination for President of the United States to file the
appropriate registration information with the Federal Election
Commission (FEC) to become a candidate for President. The
bill would also require a candidate for a political party’s
presidential nomination to file one of the following with the
Secretary not later than 12 noon on the date that is 60 days
prior to the date of the presidential preference primary:
●A declaration of intent to become a candidate filed
by the candidate and accompanied by a fee of
$10,000 (replacing a $100 fee in current law); or
●A petition in the form prescribed by continuing law,
signed by not less than 5,000 registered electors,
who are affiliated with the political party of such
candidate as shown by the party affiliation list. The
Secretary would determine the sufficiency of each
petition, and the determination would be final.
The bill would state all fees received by the Secretary
pursuant to this section would be remitted to the State
Treasurer and deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of
the State General Fund (SGF).
Election Procedures
Advance Voting (Sections 1 and 6)
The bill would require advance voting ballot applications
to be filed between January 1 of the year in which a
presidential preference primary election is held and 30 days
prior to the day of such election.
The bill would require advance voting ballots for the
presidential preference primary to be delivered to the county
board of canvassers by:
2- 2053 ●12 noon on the day preceding the election for
advance voting ballots transmitted in person; and
●The close of polls on the date of the election for
advance voting ballots transmitted by mail.
An advance voting ballot would not be counted if not
received by the county election officer or any polling place
after the closing time of the polls on the date of the election.
Voter Registration (Section 2)
The bill would require county election officers to provide
for the registration of voters at one or more places on all days
except the 30 days preceding the day of any presidential
preference primary election. [Note: Under continuing law,
registration is also closed when main offices of county
government are closed and 20 days preceding a primary,
general, or other election.]
The bill would also require county election officers to
accept and process applications received by voter registration
agencies and the Division of Vehicles, Department of
Revenue, not later than the 31
st
day preceding the date of the
presidential preference primary election or mailed voter
registration applications that are postmarked not later than
the 31
st
day preceding the presidential preference primary
election except, if the postmark is illegible or missing, mailed
voter registration applications received in the mail not later
than the 19
th
day preceding the day of such election would be
accepted and processed.
Audits (Section 3)
The bill would require an audit to be performed manually
and review all paper ballots after a presidential preference
primary election and prior to the meeting of the county board
of canvassers. [Note: The audit would be conducted in
accordance with continuing law.]
3- 2053 Notice (Section 6)
The bill would require notice of the presidential
preference primary election to be published on the
Secretary’s website and the website of each county election
office not less than 31 days prior to the presidential
preference primary election. [Note: Continuing law requires
the Secretary to publish notice in one newspaper in each
county of the state where a newspaper is published.]
After publishing notice, the Secretary would be required
to certify the amount of moneys expended on publication and
transmit a copy of the certification to the Director of Accounts
and Reports. Upon receipt of certification, the Director of
Accounts and Reports would transfer an amount of money
equal to the certified amounts from the SGF to the
Information Services Fee Fund of the Secretary and transmit
a notification of the transfer to the Directors of the Budget and
Legislative Research.
Board of Canvassers (Sections 7 and 8)
The bill would require the county board of canvassers of
each county to meet not later than eight days after a
presidential preference primary election is held and canvass
the vote of the preference primary. The county board of
canvassers would prepare an abstract of the vote in such
county and transmit the abstract to the Secretary by use of
secure email transmission or other means approved by the
Secretary not later than the tenth day after the day of the
election.
The bill would require the Secretary to publish in the
Kansas Register a certified statement of the candidates for
President for each party and the number of votes each
received on a statewide basis and for each congressional
district as determined by the State Board of Canvassers. The
Secretary would also be required to publish the report on the
Secretary’s website.
4- 2053 The bill would require the State Board of Canvassers to
meet on or before April 12, 2024, for any presidential
preference primary election held in 2024.
Political Party Rules and National Party Convention
Delegates (Section 9)
The bill would make a conforming amendment to
remove language referring to the selection of delegates for
national party conventions.
The bill would require the party rules regarding selection
of delegates and alternates to a national party convention be
adopted by the committees of the political parties to be
published on the Secretary’s website.
Technical Amendments
The bill would make technical amendments to ensure
consistency in statutory phrasing.
Background
As passed by the House, HB 2053 would have required
the Office of the Secretary of State, after consulting with
county election officers, to adopt rules and regulations for the
use of remote ballot boxes by county election officers for the
return of advance voting ballots by January 1, 2024.
The Senate Committee removed the contents of HB
2053, inserted the contents of SB 321 as amended by the
Senate Committee, and recommended a substitute bill be
passed. [Note: The provisions of HB 2053 regarding rules
and regulations for remote ballot boxes were not retained in
the substitute bill.]
5- 2053 SB 321 (Presidential Preference Primary Election)
SB 321 was introduced by the Committee on Federal
and State Affairs.
Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs
In the Senate Committee hearing, proponent testimony
was provided by a former Republican National
Committeewoman for Kansas and a private citizen, who
generally stated a presidential preference primary election
would help with low voter participation, providing increased
accessibility to all Kansans.
Neutral testimony was provided by Senator Tyson and
representatives of the Kansas County Clerks and Election
Officials Association and the Secretary of State’s Office, who
provided information about the process for presidential
preference primaries and considerations for potential dates
for such a primary.
Opponent testimony was provided by a representative
of Loud Light Civic Action and a private citizen who noted
concerns about the cost to counties, the exclusion of
unaffiliated voters, and confusion for voters that may result
from changing only the 2024 primary process.
Written-only opponent testimony was provided by four
private citizens.
No other testimony was provided.
The Senate Committee amended the contents of SB
321 to:
●Restore references in Section 6 to “elector” rather
than “voter”;
6- 2053 ●Restore law permitting unaffiliated electors to
declare a party at the polling place and participate
in such party’s presidential preference primary
election in the same day;
●Require a minimum of 5,000, rather than 2,000,
signatures of registered voters affiliated with a
candidate’s party for each petition filed by each
prospective candidate;
●Remit candidate filing fees received by the
Secretary to the State Treasurer for deposit in the
State General Fund;
●Require the following to be published on the
Secretary’s website:
○Notice of the official list of candidates and the
official date of the presidential preference
primary election;
○A report of the final canvass; and
○The party rules regarding selection of
delegates and alternates to a national party
convention adopted by the committees of the
political parties;
●Require the Secretary to publish in the Kansas
Register a certified statement of the candidates for
president of each party and the number of votes
each received on a statewide basis and for each
congressional district;
●Require the following to be published on the
websites of county election offices:
○Notice of the official list of candidates and the
official date of the presidential preference
primary election; and
○A copy of the abstract of the vote;
7- 2053 ●Require the Secretary to certify the amount of
moneys expended on the publication of
presidential preference primary election notices
and transmit a copy to the Director of Accounts and
Reports, who would transfer the certified amount
from the State General Fund to the information
services fee fund of the Secretary. Notification of
transfer would be provided to the Director of
Legislative Research and the Director of the
Budget;
●Specify that the County Board of Canvassers
would meet no later than eight days after a
presidential preference primary election is held and
remove the requirement that such meeting occur
between 8:00 and 10:00 am on the Friday following
the election;
●Provide for the transmittal of the abstract of the
vote to be made by use of secure email
transmission or other means approved by the
Secretary rather than by first class mail or
messenger;
●Require the State Board of Canvassers to meet on
or before April 12, 2024, for any presidential
preference primary election held in 2024;
●Remove provisions providing for each political
party to select as many delegates and alternates to
the national party convention as are allotted to it by
the national committee of the party;
●Remove the requirement for delegates and
alternates to be selected no later than 60 days
following the presidential preference primary;
●Add presidential preference primary elections to
the list of races requiring an audit and remove the
subsection of statute exempting such races; and
8- 2053 ●Provide for law concerning advance voting ballots
in a presidential preference primary to conform to
current law for other elections and provide
deadlines for the receipt of advance voting ballots.
The Senate Committee removed the contents of HB
2053, inserted the amended contents of SB 321 regarding
presidential preference primary elections, and recommended
a substitute bill be passed.
Fiscal Information
A fiscal note from the Division of the Budget on the bill
was not available when the Senate Committee placed the
amended contents of SB 321 into Senate Sub. for HB 2053.
During the Senate Committee on March 24, 2024, a
representative of the Secretary of State’s Office stated that
each county had been contacted to provide an estimate of
costs related to the bill. The representative indicated that
about 60 counties had submitted an estimate at the time of
the Senate Committee meeting, and the Office created an
estimate based on those figures with an adjustment for
inflation. The representative indicated to the Senate
Committee that the cost to the state could be estimated at
$5.0 million.
Elections; presidential preference primary; election procedures; voter registration;
advance voting; election audits; Secretary of State
9- 2053