Citing his legislative background, experience in small business and willingness to function in a nonpartisan and customer-friendly way, Chris Steineger said Friday he was best suited to be Kansas’ next secretary of state.
Steineger, who currently represents Kansas City and Wyandotte County in the State Senate, passed through Iola as he capped a week-long statewide campaign run.
Steineger will face Chris Biggs in the August primary. Biggs was appointed in March to replace Ron Thornburgh, who announced his retirement in February.
THE SECRETARY of state in Kansas has two main responsibilities, Steineger noted — to provide fair and open elections and to store records and reports for business, non-profit groups, labor unions, churches and state organizations.
Neither, he noted, is political in nature. The job demands a professional, not a politician, he said.
The 48-year-old Democrat is completing his 16th year in the Kansas Senate.
“After being in the Legislature this long, I’ve become more disenchanted with the hard-core partisanship that’s developed in both parties,” he said. “I’m like anyone; I’d like a chance to move up, get a promotion.”
Steineger noted his willingness to think outside the box “and not always follow along with my party leadership” likely was what prevented him from being appointed to the seat instead of Biggs.
That independent thinking also makes the Wyandotte County native confident he can appeal to all Kansans.
“I think I can win the (Democratic) primary and the general (election),” he said. “I’m the least partisan of all four candidates out there.”
As secretary of state, Steineger said he would promote advance balloting as a means to increase voter participation. He also would seek to ensure all county election offices have the same types of ballot machines, ones that would require paper balloting.
Touch-screen machines that do not require paper balloting could be prone to damage, he said.
“You could drop it, a chip could fail,” he said. “Without a paper trail, whoever voted on that machine would have lost his vote.”
Still, comments by some on the Republican side of wanton election fraud are “grossly exaggerated,” he said.
“Kansas is known across the country for its clean elections,” Steineger said. “I think that credit goes to Ron Thornburgh, and Ron Thornburgh’s staff.”
He also would consider other ideas to increase voter turnout, such as potentially scheduling elections on weekends so that working families have better opportunities to cast ballots.
AS AN example of his independent streak, Steineger pointed to what he described as his “billion dollar list” — a means to generate discussion about long-term options the state could follow to save money.
The most noteworthy of those proposals is radical consolidation — paring the number of counties and judicial districts to 25 — which Steineger, citiing a Wichita State University audit, said would be worth about $700 million annually,
He would not necessarily tout that idea as secretary of state.
“That’s just an idea I have that would best serve all Kansans,” he said.
