TOPEKA – The bipartisan Audit Committee of the Kansas State Legislature has voted to issue a subpoena to compel the Ford County clerk to cooperate in the state’s security review of election-related materials and equipment used in the 2022 general election.
Members of the House and Senate attending Monday’s committee meeting took the extraordinary step of immediately reopening the election security investigation that Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox had long since put on hold.
The committee ordered Cox to comply with the audit team’s requests for information that was helpful in evaluating the accuracy of voting machines used in the statewide election two years ago. In addition, Cox must give auditors access to storage units, ballots and equipment used to count votes in that election by August 14.
Republican Rep. Shannon Francis of the Liberal Party of southwest Kansas made the motion to affirm the authority of post-auditing staff to investigate election processes in Ford County. He proposed a separate motion to enact Article 10, Chapter 46 of Kansas law, which outlines how investigative committees can use the power of a subpoena to compel people to cooperate with audits. Both motions passed without debate.
“If any person fails to make available to the Postal Auditor or any officer or employee of the Postal Audit Division, upon request, any books, accounts, contracts or records, files, documents and correspondence, whether confidential or otherwise, relating to such audit… the Postal Auditor shall promptly report such failure in writing to the Postal Audit Committee of the Legislature, the Governor and the Attorney General,” Francis said.
Cox was not present at the brief meeting of the audit committee in the Capitol. She had until 1 p.m. on August 14 to provide the auditors with the requested documents.
When the Division of Postal Audit launched a review of election security standards in 15 counties, it discovered that officials in Ford and Chase counties sealed most election documents in the same containers as the original ballots. The practice of locking away election documents or records of machine transfers in containers containing ballots violated the Kansas Open Records Act, which requires the retention and review of certain election-related records.
In addition, Ford County refused to allow the Legislature’s auditors to inspect the county’s election administration computer, meaning auditors could not determine whether the voting computer was properly disconnected from the Internet or whether it had non-election-related software installed.
Kristen Rottinghaus, deputy director of the audit division, said the legislative committee’s goal is to answer two fundamental questions about election security in Ford County. They are the same questions being asked of the 13 counties listed in the audit report due to be released in mid-2023.
The investigation in Ford County will focus on the accuracy and security of voting machines used in the November 2022 election, she said.
“And,” Rottinghaus said, “their policies and procedures for ensuring the security of storage units, ballots and equipment used to count votes during the same election.”
In July 2023, the Audit Division reported to the House that while the 13 cooperating county governments had adequate election security practices overall, none met all 55 best practices or state laws in the 2022 primary or general election. Auditors concluded that most of the 13 counties examined in this audit provided inadequate levels of security for ballots and counting machines.
“In addition, the necessary measures are missing or weak in several important areas,” the audit report states. “This means that security is not as good as it could or should be.”
The auditors recommended that Secretary of State Scott Schwab provide counties with standardized voting forms and guidelines. In addition, the auditors suggested that Schwab train county election officials on which voting materials can be sealed in ballot containers and hidden from the public.
“State Department officials told us that county clerks often indiscriminately seal election records with ballots,” the audit said. “But that does not meet the purpose of ballot sealing, which is to maintain an accurate written record of election results.”
The audit of Kansas counties’ election security practices was driven by Republican state lawmakers who were convinced by former President Donald Trump’s false claim that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election as part of a multi-state conspiracy.
Trump, who won Kansas in the 2016 and 2020 elections, has continued to perpetuate this myth in the 2024 election campaign.
In 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed suit against Cox, challenging her decision to move the city’s polling place, which serves 27,000 people, to a facility outside city limits. The suit claimed the change interfered with a fundamental right to vote and would disproportionately affect Hispanic voters.
Cox also forwarded a letter from the ACLU of Kansas to then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach requesting the establishment of a voter hotline, but wrote “LOL” at the top of the document, which means “laugh out loud.”
