By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab visited Hutchinson Tuesday to speak to a Republican Party gathering.
"We want confidence in our election systems," Schwab said. "This is a part of that. They've invited us to come out. We had to switch days due to a conflict, so we're coming out today. It's my second trip to Hutchinson and Reno County this week."
Keeping ballots secure is something Schwab wanted to make a greater effort in.
"Some of the things that we're trying to do is update systems," Schwab said. "We did get a lot of federal dollars, so some of the simple things we did were drop boxes for mail ballots. There were county clerks in Kansas receiving ballots through the mail as late as March of this year for the last November election, so we really wanted to encourage folks, don't mail your ballot, drop it off in a drop box."
Schwab said it's important that elections continue to be run at the state level, because it is more efficient.
"From our standpoint, we can't afford it," Schwab said. "I think, if we don't want federal elections to be run through D.C., then they also need to be funded locally, which Kansas does. Some of my colleagues across the country are asking for money, but not the legislation. I say, let's just say no to both of them. One of the problems they have is they are increasing the amount of early day voting. What we do is we allow local control. So, we may have a county, let's say Grant County, doesn't need 20 days of staff plus rent of early voting. They only need a couple because they don't have the population. The chair of the elections committee is out of Los Angeles. She has a Los Angeles population mentality of Grant County, Kansas. That law that might work good in L.A., is not going to work in rural America."
The full interview with Schwab is below.