Just follow election rules and everything will be fine

People worried about whether their mail-in votes will count on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, have nothing to worry about in Kansas, if they just follow the rules.

The rules have not been changed in this state for this election. That’s the key thing to remember. And it’s up to voters to follow the rules, just like always.

Kansans have been able to vote by mail, for any reason, since 1996.

The state Democratic party held a mail-only presidential primary in May. 

During the August state primary, Kansans opted to vote by mail at an historic rate, with 315,096 mail-in ballots requested, due to concerns about COVID-19. That exceeded the number received during the 2016 and 2018 elections combined.

In Kansas, if you want to vote by mail, you must request that a ballot is sent to you. In Kansas, ballots are not being mailed out automatically to all registered voters.

The upcoming November general election is expected to generate an unprecedented volume of mail ballots, but only time will tell. 

There’s a big effort being made in the national TV news shows to try and convince us that the Nov. 3 election is going to be a big mess and that we may not know the winner of the presidential election for many days after the election. Don’t necessarily believe everything you read or hear. 

A majority of the national TV news shows these days don’t even pretend any more to be fair or objective in their reporting. And the local TV news shows tend to just repeat-broadcast what the national TV news show broadcast word for word.

Even The Associated Press, the main source for professional, objective national news reporting for many years, is now churning out “hit piece’’ after “hit piece’’ against President Donald Trump.

By “hit piece,’’ I mean stories clearly aimed at portraying the president in a bad light, often with anonymous sources.

The first thing people who want to vote in the election must do is make sure they are registered to vote. The deadline to register to vote is fast approaching - Tuesday, Oct. 13. 

All U.S. citizens who are residents of Kansas and 18 years old or older can register to vote in Kansas.

If you can go to the grocery store with ease, and go elsewhere out in the community, then you can vote in person and that’s what you should plan to do on Nov. 3.

The deadline is Oct. 27 to request a general election ballot be mailed to you, if that is what you want to do. Don’t complain if you ask for a mail-in ballot after Oct. 27. You are not going to get one then.

As soon you receive your mail-in ballot, you can fill it out immediately and mail it back to the county election office, or deliver it to the election office in person.

Completed ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day. If you don’t return your completed ballot by 7 p.m. on elected day, don’t expect your ballot to be counted. It won’t be.

All completed ballots that are mailed back will be counted up to three days after the election, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. If you don’t mail back your completed ballot back until after Election Day, don’t expect your ballot to be counted. It won’t be.

By following these simple election rules, there won’t be a big mess with the upcoming election in Kansas.