Voter registration

A right-wing campaign has targeted a once-obscure voting partnership called ERIC. Missouri and seven other Republican states have now pulled out, giving the election denial movement a big win — and a blueprint for 2024.

Starting today, residents across Kansas City can begin early voting for the June 20 election for mayor and City Council. The new council is confronting an urgent need for more affordable housing, recent spikes in violent crime, economic development and neighborhood livability issues.

Florida, Missouri and West Virginia announced they're pulling out of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, the only system states have to share voter registration data. The system has been the target of a sustained misinformation campaign from the far-right.

A 2021 Kansas law makes it a crime to engage in conduct that would cause someone to believe you are an election worker. In response, multiple nonprofits like the League of Women Voters suspended or limited efforts to educate and assist prospective voters.

Kelly joins 11 other female governors as women in Kansas and Missouri won offices at local, state and federal levels.

Midterms typically attract fewer voters than presidential races, but fewer people voted on Tuesday than in the 2018 midterm election. In some parts of the metro, turnout was lower than in the August primary.

Some have raised suspicions about the security of the election process nationwide. In Missouri, election materials and the certification of the vote are constantly managed by a bipartisan team of election judges.

A Kansas law passed in 2021 made it illegal for one person to deliver more than 10 advance voting ballots on behalf of other voters, and puts additional restrictions on handling and verifying advanced ballots.

Under the new law, registered voters would either have to get a government-issued photo ID or cast a provisional ballot on Election Day. The Missouri NAACP and League of Women Voters of Missouri argue it's unconstitutional, and say they'll bring the case to the state Supreme Court.

Sheriff Darryl Forté has pointed to a nonexistent provision in Missouri's new voting law to limit voter registration efforts inside the Jackson County jail, where hundreds of detainees are potentially eligible voters. Missouri's voter registration deadline is Oct. 12.

Sept. 15 is the International Day of Democracy. Alarms are sounding that democracy in America — once the example to the world — is in danger.

Missouri's Secretary of State defends a new election law requiring anyone who wants to cast a ballot to have a form of government-issued photo identification. Two lawsuits have already been filed to block the restrictions from taking effect.