Position on the Voter Eligibility Constitutional Amendment
The League of Women Voters of Kansas Opposes the Constitutional Amendment on Voter Eligibility Requirements (HCR 5004). We recommend that voters Vote NO on the Constitutional Amendment on the November 3, 2026, General Election ballot. The League of Women Voters of Kansas is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. We study issues and take positions that affect voting rights and democracy in our state.
This KS Constitutional Amendment changes the language of the Kansas Constitution from the federal default standard promoting everyone who fits the following criteria to vote to only those who fit these criteria may vote. This subtle but dangerous distinction promotes voter suppression through its exclusionary tone, instead of inclusionary language. This shift in language is important in determining how potential voters are scrutinized prior to being allowed to vote.
The amendment asks Kansans to add language to the state Constitution that is already the law. The Kansas Constitution limits voting to U.S. citizens aged 18 and older and provides for absentee voting for voters who cannot appear in person. Because the amendment changes nothing about who is currently eligible to vote, it accomplishes no practical goal; its only real effect is symbolic.
That symbolism is not harmless. We are concerned the amendment lays rhetorical groundwork for reviving a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement, like the one struck down in federal court in 2018 (Fish v Kobach) for disenfranchising tens of thousands of eligible Kansans, this time anchored in the Constitution and far harder to repeal. Documentary proof -of-citizenship potentially could disenfranchise tens of thousands of eligible Kansans, including returning veterans, married women and college students, elderly and low-income voters.
Finally, the amendment shifts the Constitution's tone from inclusionary, describing who is included in the right to vote, to exclusionary, describing who alone may be permitted to vote. That shift matters, even where it changes with no immediate legal outcome. Vote No on November 3, 2026.