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What are the main take-aways from the 2018 primary season from an election reform perspective? In summary, some good news, some problems, and some emerging solutions. The good news is that competition and participation both increased significantly in 2018, as more people ran, more people voted, and more primaries actually offered choice to voters. The number of candidates seeking office jumped by 30% compared with 2016, and the percent of primaries that were contested also rose significantly, p

Running a campaign outside the two-party apparatus is not easy. I have reported on the many barriers in place that are hostile to independent and third party candidates even launching a campaign. However, even when these candidates do make it on the ballot and present a viable challenge to the political status quo, they still face a media and campaign environment that marginalizes their candidacy at every level. Case in point, in Kansas, the three candidates for governor -- Republican Kris Kob

The point, they say, of campaign debates is to give the public a chance to get to know the candidates and understand the differences between them on issues, policy and the like. When I watched the KCPT Kansas Gubernatorial Debate that was hosted by the Johnson County Bar Association last week, prepared to follow the nuances of the discussion, I was instead struck by something else entirely. There were three candidates on the stage. Three. A Republican. A Democrat. And an Independent. And everyo

Steve Baccus, who served as chairman of sitting GOP Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer's 2018 campaign, will not back the Republican nominee for governor this year. Instead, he has endorsed and signed on to co-chair independent Greg Orman's campaign -- citing his desire to put Kansas' interests first. “I made it clear when I joined Governor Colyer’s campaign that I believed Kansas needed a leader who was committed to the state,” said Baccus. “While my candidate in the primary election did not succeed

DENVER, COLO. - Unite America, a national organization providing support for independent candidates running for elected office in various states, hosted the first-ever Unite Summit in Denver, Colorado, this past weekend. Attendees came from across the country to hear about the future of the independent movement, as it has come to be called, and what could be done to successfully effect change in American politics. Panels were held and speeches given on running competitive independent campaigns

A new report published by the Cook Political Report (CPR) says that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's GOP primary victory has moved the governor's race to "Toss Up" status -- painting an uncertain future for the state's top office. Cook Political Report is a nonpartisan newsletter that is widely used to gauge competitiveness and trends in US House, US Senate, governor's races, and more in the US. "In the general election, voters are looking at a competitive three-way race with Greg Orman

Ballots submitted by unaffiliated voters in the Republican primary for Kansas governor may not be counted, according to Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach currently has a tight 110-vote lead over Governor Jeff Colyer. But the 9,000 uncounted provisional ballots spread throughout 105 counties have not yet been tallied. These make up the votes who may or may not meet the requirements to be considered valid - such as a lack of party affiliation. The L

Update: After voting discrepancies were discovered, Kris Kobach announced that he will recuse himself from the recount of the GOP gubernatorial primary election. Additionally, sitting Gov. Jeff Colyer, who trails Kobach by a slim margin, sent a letter to Kobach, calling on him to step away from advising local elections officials on the recount. The letter said: "It has come to my attention that your office is giving advice to county election officials — as recently as a conference call yesterd

There are more registered independent voters in the state of Kansas than the total number of voters who participated in the August 7 closed primary elections. There are 1.8 million registered voters in Kansas. Nearly a third of these voters could not participate in the primary elections, while about a quarter of total registered voters actually participated. https://twitter.com/BACaskey/status/1026974737208094725 Let's put this in perspective and look at the top-ticket election in the state -

OLATHE, Kan. - Kansas independent gubernatorial candidate Greg Orman announced Monday that he and his running mate, State Sen. John Doll, garnered 10,338 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The Orman campaign submitted over twice the amount of signatures required by state law. “The two parties do everything in their power to put up roadblocks and barriers to prevent anyone but their own from participating in our electoral process,” said Orman. “That won’t work this year, and Sen. Do