Democratic candidate stripped from some Kansas Senate ballots

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Kansas voters living overseas will receive a ballot for the November election with no Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate race that has unexpectedly become one of the most closely-watched in the nation.

But Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach vowed Friday to continue his efforts to force Democrats to name a replacement candidate for Chad Taylor. The Democrat dropped out of the race earlier this month, handing independent Greg Orman a stronger chance to defeat three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts.

Now Republicans find themselves in the strange position of trying to force Democrats to run someone against their candidate. Many Democrats don't want a nominee because they see Orman as the strongest rival to Roberts and are loath to split the anti-Roberts vote. The state Supreme Court stepped in once and is being asked to do so again.

After Roberts emerged vulnerable from a nasty primary in August, the race in Kansas unexpectedly emerged as one of several that could determine control of the Senate in the next Congress. Kansas, which leans heavily Republican, is an unlikely site for competitive general election. But Orman, a 45-year-old Olathe businessman, is leading or close behind the 78-year-old Roberts in some recent opinion polls.

A Fox News poll released earlier this week certainly gave Roberts cause to worry.

With Taylor in the mix, the Democrat received 11 percent support, the Fox poll showed, while Roberts won 40 percent and Orman garnered 38 percent support. With just Orman and and Roberts to choose from, voters chose the independent over the incumbent Republican, 48 to 42 percent. The poll, conducted Sept. 14-16, has a four-point margin of error.

Even as Kobach directed counties to mail out overseas ballots by Saturday, he continued to argue that state law requires Democrats to pick a new candidate. The law says when a candidate vacancy occurs, it "shall" be filled by a party committee.

"Nothing has changed," said Kobach, a conservative Republican who is supporting Roberts.

The controversy came to a head this month when Taylor ceased campaigning and sent a letter to Kobach's office to withdraw his candidacy. Kobach said the letter wasn't detailed enough to comply with state law, but the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that it was sufficient and ordered Taylor's name removed.

The Kansas Republican Party blasted that ruling in a statement. "It is depressing to see the state Supreme Court condone political gamesmanship and a national power play to deceive and disenfranchise Kansas voters," Kelly Arnold, the group's chairman, according to the Wichita Eagle. "It is pathetic that the Kansas Democrats are celebrating that their own candidate, elected by their own voters, quit."

The Roberts campaign also decried the ruling in its own statement. "Today, the Kansas Supreme Court deliberately, and for political purposes, disenfranchised over 65,000 voters," said campaign manager Corry Bliss, according to the Eagle.

Pedro Irigonegaray, a Topeka attorney who represented Taylor, said the law Kobach cites in pushing Democrats to name a replacement does not require every vacancy to be filled.

"I believe that what Mr. Kobach is saying is a perversion of the statute," Irigonegary said. "How can a secretary of state compel a candidate to run? That's ludicrous."

"Mr. Kobach should stop wasting the state's money and concentrate on doing the job of secretary of state," Irigonegary added, according to the Eagle. "The suggestion that the law requires the Democratic Party to place a candidate for nomination is as wrong as his opinion regarding the removal of Mr. Taylor from the ballot. If Mr. Kobach attempts to do that, I assure you he will lose."

That issue returns to the state Supreme Court because of a petition filed by a Democratic voter from Kansas City asking the justices to force Democrats to pick a new candidate. The petition was filed minutes after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, and the voter's son works for GOP Gov. Sam Brownback's re-election campaign.

Kobach announced Thursday that he was having counties postpone the mailing of overseas ballots by a week to give Democrats time to pick a new nominee.

But Kobach's office sent them a memo Friday directing them to meet the Saturday deadline, saying he had concluded the move was "most prudent." Each ballot will come with a disclaimer telling voters they may get a second ballot later if Democrats name a new candidate.

The disclaimer says that if Democrats pick a new candidate only the second ballot will count. Those voters will also be able to submit their ballots after the Nov. 4 election.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew, a Democrat, said he and other county elections officials are worried about potential voter confusion.

Kobach noted that most of the state's 800,000 to a 1 million ballots won't be printed until later.