# What's going on in the Kansas Senate election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 11, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237 "2014-09-11T21:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/61 "2014-09-26T04:37:45Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’m not sure how you fix this. If you appoint a non-partisan person, some elected official or body has to do it. So that appointed person would likely be someone agreeable to whoever does the appointing, making them a bit less than impartial. Super-majorities. Make the office a non-partisan one, appointed by a vote of 75% or more in the Legislature. You need to have a Chief Electoral Officer to run the election, so the representatives in the Legislature are forced to come to a compromise on someone that does not have ties to either party. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/62 "2014-09-26T04:49:07Z")
For example, in Canada, the current Chief Electoral Officer was appointed by a [unanimous resolution of the Commons, moved by all four parties](http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2722766&File=0&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Pub=projected&Ses=1): [QUOTE=Journals of the House of Commons] Pursuant to Standing Order 111.1(2), Mr. Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform) [**Conservative**], seconded by Mr. Goodale (Wascana) [**Liberal**] and, by unanimous consent, by Mr. Gauthier (Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean) [**Bloc Québécois]** and Ms. Davies (Vancouver East) [**NDP**], moved, — That, in accordance with section 13 of the Canada Elections Act, Chapter 9 of the Statutes of Canada, 2000, this House appoint Marc Mayrand as Chief Electoral Officer. The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to. [/QUOTE] Once appointed, the CEO serves until age 65, on good behaviour, and can only be removed by the Governor General on resolutions of the Commons and the Senate: the same security of tenure as a federally appointed judge. Neither the CEO nor the Assistant CEO can vote in federal elections. They are the only adult Canadians who are barred from voting. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/63 "2014-09-26T12:18:23Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Something else – even before the current hoopla about withdrawing from the ballot there was an ongoing rebellion of moderate Kansas Republicans. More than 100 current or former Republican elected officials have essentially repudiated the current state of their own party, and had already endorsed the Independent candidate for senator. I thought that it was in the governor’s race that that was happening. > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > My prediction – Kobach will find a shill, someone who claims to be a Democrat and will walk into Dem Party headquarters and volunteer to run and get on the ballot. Then the Dems won’t be able to claim they couldn’t find a Democrat who was willing to run. > > Or maybe the shill will entirely bypass the party – just show up to the Secretary’s office, claim to be a volunteer and sign some paper to get on the ballot. > [@Chronos](#): > > Couldn’t the Democrats just name Orman as their candidate? I think New York is notable in allowing one person to be nominated by multiple parties and thus to appear on more than one “line” on the ballot (“fusion candidates”). Although, I do know that when Earl Warren was governor of California—originally elected as a Republican—he was re-elected as the nominee of three parties—Republican, Democratic, and Progressive. I think a lot of states don’t allow this, but I don’t know what the situation is in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/64 "2014-09-26T18:32:35Z")
Roberts must be worried - he’s pulling out the big guns. John McCain was here this week for a campaign event, and I heard that Sarah Palin is supposed to be coming for a visit next week. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/65 "2014-10-01T20:19:46Z")
A court has [ruled](http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article2421062.html) that the Democrats do not need to put up a candidate: > [@](#): > > “When a candidate vacancy occurs after a primary, it is the judgment of the political party as to whether to challenge, or not, for the office by assessing both candidate availability and viability and, as well, its own party’s best interests,” the judges said in a unanimous ruling. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/66 "2014-10-02T18:49:26Z")
[The Roberts campaign in-action:](http://washingtonexaminer.com/ground-game-looms-large-in-kansas-race/article/2554236) > [@](#): > > When Roberts’ new team took over his foundering campaign three weeks ago, they discovered an operation that hadn’t ordered any yard signs and a headquarters that didn’t have a computer printer or its own Internet service. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/67 "2014-10-02T19:06:33Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > A court has [ruled](http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article2421062.html) that the Democrats do not need to put up a candidate: Different state, different case, but I remember a judge in New Jersey saying that the voters MUST have a choice, regardless of what the law says. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/68 "2014-10-02T19:37:25Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Different state, different case, but I remember a judge in New Jersey saying that the voters MUST have a choice, regardless of what the law says. As with so many of your assertions, this one is wrong. Many elections, including ones for the House of Representatives and the Senate, have a candidate who is running unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/69 "2014-10-02T19:38:57Z")
A voter can always “choose” to write in Mickey Mouse. Many do. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/70 "2014-10-02T20:08:25Z")
Though Mickey would be a terrible senator, I can at least see him acknowledging global warming exists and is man-made, unlike most Republicans ---
**Author:** ![bbonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecb155/32.png) [@bbonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbonden)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/71 "2014-10-02T21:41:34Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > As with so many of your assertions, this one is wrong. Many elections, including ones for the House of Representatives and the Senate, have a candidate who is running unopposed. I assume that he is referring to _The New Jersey Democratic Party v. Samson_, 175 N.J. 178, 814 A.2d 1028 (2002), which allowed Torricelli to be replaced on the New Jersey Sentate ballot after the statutory deadline. **adaher** ’s point is a little too cute, but it is not “wrong.” Two cases in which Senate ballots were changed, once by adding/substituting a name, once by subtracting a name, once giving voters “more”/different choice, once giving voters less. The commonalities were decisions by Democratic-nominated judges in favor of the Democratic Party’s preferred result, and contrary to highly-technical readings of state election laws. It’s not entirely fair to lump the two circumstances but it’s also a bit too cavalier to ignore the results-oriented logic. I’d say that the Republican view is the more cynical one in Kansas, the Democratic view the more cynical one in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/72 "2014-10-03T00:14:56Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > As with so many of your assertions, this one is wrong. Many elections, including ones for the House of Representatives and the Senate, have a candidate who is running unopposed. I agree. THe judge did not, even though there already was a candidate on the ballot, but who wanted to get off. He ruled that the Democrats had the right to replace him days before the election on the made up theory that voters had to have a choice, even though they already had one. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237/73 "2014-10-03T02:09:56Z")
> [@bbonden](#): > > I assume that he is referring to _The New Jersey Democratic Party v. Samson_, > 175 N.J. 178, 814 A.2d 1028 (2002), which allowed Torricelli to be replaced on the New Jersey Sentate ballot after the statutory deadline. You know, I’d forgotten all about that. My apologies to **adaher**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-the-kansas-senate-election/698237.md?page=3)