Legal proceedings are either underway or continue in two notable cases at the state level.
Vote Anywhere lawsuit
Kansas Democrats are upset that Secretary of State Scott Schwab hasn’t moved ahead with the federal Vote Anywhere law, and they have taken him to court as a result.
National Democratic groups, including the National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are also involved in the lawsuit, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the Vote Anywhere legislation, which gives county election officials the power to let voters cast ballots at any polling place in their county, last year and it officially took effect this past July.
Democrats say Schwab is trying to suppress voting. Schwab, however, says not all the preparations will be ready for either the primary election in August or the general election in November. He also says Democrats have not discussed how to develop the new regulations as needed.
Foster care lawsuit
Lawyers representing foster children look to hold Governor Laura Kelly responsible for the state of the foster system in Kansas.
Attorneys representing foster kids filed a motion in the ongoing case last week saying Gov. Kelly’s requset to be dismissed from the lawsuit should be denied, saying Kelly is trying to avoid any legal responsibility.
Besides Kelly, Children and Families and Disability and Aging Services Secretary Laura Howard and Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman are named in the lawsuit. Attorneys representing the governor filed the motion in October, saying the governor is not responsible for regulating the foster care system according to The Kansas City Star. Her office says this is routine business, especially when other state agencies — in this case, DCF, KDADS and KDHE — are involved and leading different efforts challenged in lawsuits such as this one.
The foster care system has come under repeated fire over the past decade, especially under previous DCF director Phyllis Gilmore but the current administration has not been immune to complaints. The lawsuit, which now represents nearly 15 children, says foster children have been trafficked for sex, sexually abused inside adoptive homes, sexually assaulted inside a child welfare office or mistreated to the point where they have either suffered mentally or run away from foster homes.
Kelly says the state is making progress in limiting the number of foster children who have to sleep in agency or contractor offices because of the number of students needing homes and the lack of available foster families. The lawsuit, filed in late 2018, continues after Kelly announced plans to combine KDADS, KDCF and parts of the Kansas Department of Corrections juvenile justice system into the Department of Human Services pending lawmaker approval.
