A week ago, Kansans cast their most consequential vote of the last 70 years or so, when they decided to preserve the integrity and independence of the state courts by rejecting a constitutional amendment that would have made the position of Supreme Court justice an elected office.
Come November, we’ll be following that up with a vote on potentially the least consequential amendment the Legislature has offered up in decades, which redundantly guarantees that only citizens can vote in Kansas elections.
More on that in a minute. But first, I want to tell you about the most ironic-bordering-on-hilarious aspect of the November amendment. Get those pronouns outta here!
The amendment changes all the “he-or-she” and “his-or-her” references in the Constitution’s section on voter eligibility to “such persons.”
It’s funny, because the prominent Republicans of this state have spent the last five years or so pushing gender-specific pronouns every chance they get — as long as they’re the “right” ones.
Attorney General Kris Kobach and the Trump Administration’s Department of Education have both threatened to defund schools for letting kids use gender-nonspecific pronouns.
The Legislature has gone so far as to ban all pronouns from state email signatures. Their only reason was to eliminate “theys” and “thems” for not being gender-specific enough.
Of course, while some use pronouns in their email signature to signify their gender status as non-binary or transgender, there are plenty of people whose given names are routinely mistaken for the opposite sex. For them, putting pronouns in their email signature was a way to avoid men getting messages addressed to “Dear Ms.” and women, “Dear Mr.”
Like Johnny Cash said, “Life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue.”
I’m pretty sure if Democrats proposed an amendment removing he-him and she-her pronouns from the state Constitution, there’s probably not enough ink in Kansas for all the campaign mailings the Republicans would send out accusing them of being “too woke.”
A pointless amendment
Let’s shift gears here and deal with the substance of the November amendment, such as it is.
The ballot measure purports to guarantee that only U.S. citizens will be allowed to vote in elections in Kansas.
You may be thinking “That’s already in the Kansas Constitution.” And you would be right.
Here’s what the Constitution says now: “Every citizen of the United States who has attained the age of eighteen years and who resides in the voting area in which he or she seeks to vote shall be deemed a qualified elector.”
Here’s what the amendment says: “No person shall be deemed a qualified elector unless such person: (1) Is a citizen of the United States; (2) has attained the age of eighteen years; (and) (3) . . . resides in the voting area in which such person seeks to vote.”
