NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Kansas Legislature is considering multiple election security measures this session. One of those would require a watermark on ballots.
The whole purpose behind what they are trying to do is make it to where the paper has the watermark in it, so you can't just print it off of a regular printer and feed it in," said Deputy Elections Clerk Jenna Fager. "We do have things in place to where you can't do that anyway. We have the tick marks and things and the machines read that very particularly."
Fager said that if a watermark is included, that could increase the costs of the paper to about $1 a ballot. County Clerk Donna Patton told the County Commission in a report to them that would be five to six times what a ballot blank currently costs.
"It differs from a gubernatorial to a presidential," Fager said. "Normally, like on a presidential, I'll order around 80 percent."
That's enough ballot blanks for 80 percent of registered voters. There are roughly 40,000 registered voters in Reno County. The county does have the ability to print ballots on demand on their own special printer to minimize costs during advance voting, when they don't know which precinct a voter might come from on a given day.