Kansas Gives Out Wrong Information In Spanish-Language Voter Guides

Kansas has been providing incorrect information to Spanish-speaking voters in its online and printed voter guides. The Spanish guide tells voters they can register up to 15 days before the election, when it's actually 21 days before the election. It also leaves passports off the list of accepted forms of voter ID, yet passports are included in the English guide.

Here & Now's Robin Young talks with Kansas Democratic consultant Chris Reeves, who published word of the error on the blog Daily Kos, about the significance of the incorrect guides, and what's being done to fix them.

Note: After today's interview, the Kansas Secretary of State's press office sent Here & Now the following statement.

The law requiring voters to register at least 21 days before an election was changed from 15 days in 2011. The proofreading mistake on the Spanish Guide to Voting in Kansas was made when the office updated all of our forms. For example, if you go to our website and click on the “Voter Rights and Responsibilities poster”, you’ll see an example of one of the many forms that were updated correctly. At the bottom of the form you’ll see that it was revised on 11/16/11. Most importantly, the actual Voter Registration Application was updated appropriately when the law changed.

The discrepancy on the Guide to Voting in Kansas was a result of simple human error. We corrected the errors as soon as we were made aware of it and believe the mistake has had zero effect on voters in Kansas.