The ghost of Kris Kobach haunts the office of his successor. Next year, Kansas lawmakers must perform an exorcism.
On Wednesday, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office turned down a request from state Sen. Julia Lynn to be removed from the November ballot. Lynn, an Olathe Republican, said she wanted to end her re-election campaign because of a “severe medical hardship” in her family.
Current law allows candidates to withdraw for just such a reason, but they must submit a note signed by a doctor, just like fourth-grade gym class. In this case, Lynn submitted a letter signed by a nurse.
Sorry. Not good enough. Barring a legal intervention, Lynn is still on the ballot.
It’s tempting to chuckle at this foul-up, but it has real-world consequences. What are voters in Kansas Senate District 9 expected to do? Their choice now includes a candidate who has literally said she doesn’t want the job. On Friday, Lynn told The Star Editorial Board, “I’m not ready to respond yet.”
Democrat Stacey Knoell is also seeking the seat.
If Lynn is elected, she could resign and let the Republican Party pick her replacement. That’s no way to choose anyone for office. Voters need to know who they’re voting for. Some vague partisan promise to find someone to fill the spot after Election Day is not sufficient.
In 2000, Missourians were asked to vote for Mel Carnahan, who had died, for the U.S. Senate. But the governor at the time promised to appoint Jean Carnahan to the seat, so Missourians knew exactly who they would get if Mel Carnahan won.
If Lynn remains on the ballot, she must commit to serving her term. If she plans to quit after the election, voters should know who her replacement will be — or support someone else.
This silly outcome could have been avoided if Kansas had a more reasonable procedure for withdrawing from a race. Before 2015, a candidate who wanted to exit a race simply had to certify he or she could not serve if elected.
ENTER KRIS Kobach. The former secretary of state was infuriated in 2014 when Democrat Chad Taylor sought to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race against Pat Roberts. Greg Orman, an independent, was thought to have a better chance against Roberts if Taylor quit.
Kobach — fond, as always, of twisting the law for partisan purposes — claimed Taylor could not withdraw. (“The law is very clear,” he said.) The courts disagreed, as they often did with Kobach. So the following year, he pushed for death as the only accepted excuse to drop a nominee from the ballot.
Lawmakers amended the bill to allow a doctor’s certification of illness as a reason to quit. It passed, which is why a Kansas candidate now needs a doctor’s note to get out of a race.
Which Lynn should have known, by the way, since she voted for the change in 2015.
Setting a deadline for withdrawing from a race is certainly reasonable since ballots must be printed long before Election Day. But the state’s Rube Goldberg contraption requiring a doctor’s certification disenfranchises voters, who deserve a real choice, and burdens candidates who honestly do not want to run.
