EMMIE BOESE
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The ACLU Kansas Executive Director stopped in at the NAACP meeting at the HCC Student Union last week. Dr. Micah Kubic has been the executive director of the ACLU of Kansas since January, 2022.
Kubic discussed two distinct issues that the ACLU is fighting which are "Represent! Reclaiming our Vote, Restoring Our Democracy" and "Reimagine Justice."
"When I think about the way that our rights are under attack today, what I think of is, help me to hold out until my change comes," Kubic said. "I think there's something special about that too, sometimes people hear that and they think it just sort of means to sit still, to be meek, to wait, to hope. I think there is a difference though between holding on and holding out. Holding on? That just means holding on for dear life. Hoping. Just hoping that if you sit still something good will happen. That is not what this moment calls for. What this moment calls for is holding out."
According to ACLU of Kansas, the Reimagine Justice bill's purpose is to secure the elimination of juvenile fines and fees statewide, securing statutory decriminalization of medical marijuana and ensuring equity in the regulated medical industry and decreasing the number of people detained in Kansas pre-trial.
Kubic said kids are not able to pay bills and it doesn't stop them from making mistakes. He said in 2023, the bill got a hearing in the state house. It went before the House Corrections committee and every single member of the committee voted in favor of that bill. It didn't go any further last year because they ran out of time, but it is up again this year with a hearing on the Senate Judiciary committee.
"We all know someone who has made a mistake in their life," Kubic said. "If you are a juvenile and you go into our justice system, we charge you for the privilege. We make you pay fees and fines and restitution in ways that could really destroy people's entire life chances. We know as well that young African American men, are the ones who are most likely to be persecuted by the system here in the state of Kansas.
The "Represent! Reclaiming our Vote, Restoring Our Democracy" bill aims to expand early voting and increase accessibility for voters.
Kubic said early voting is when you postmark your ballot on election day and you put it in the mail. It has up to 72 hours or three days to arrive at the election office and still be counted.
"That's important because the mail is slow sometimes," Kubic said. "People who have done everything right. They've done everything we've asked them to. Now they want to say even though you've done everything right, you don't everything we've asked you to and more, we not going to count it because the post office sends the mail to Nebraska first before sending it back to Kansas."
Kubic said a key factor to increase voter accessibility in Kansas is to accurately inform those with Kansas felonies of their right to vote after they serve their sentence in prison. He said there are at least 140,000 people with felony convictions in Kansas who are eligible to vote. Kansas has a population of about 3 million.
"The reason to do this is because its the right thing to do," Kubic said. "The reason to vote is about whether you are included in the community or excluded from the community. There is a moral state involved here in who we say is part of us and who we say is not, how we welcome people back into the community and how we create a path for them to be part of community."
More information about the current bills from ACLU of Kansas is available at aclukansas.org.
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