Depending on the length of the COVID-19 pandemic, some questions are beginning to mount over what effect, if any it will have on the 2020 elections.
Current state law prohibits all mail ballot elections in an election with a candidate’s name on the ballot. They can only be used for special questions. Kansas State University Department of Communications Associate Professor Dr. Tim Shaffer says if a change is made, it will need to happen quickly.
“The reality is, voting by mail is going to require a lot of logistics if we were to do it on a national scale, at this level. The clock is ticking, the election’s in November, especially if we were to think about it from a logistical standpoint. When Amazon and everyone else can’t even mail you toilet paper, how do we do something like this.” he said.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)

Kansas expects an influx of coronavirus tests in the compig weeks that should help with efforts to bring the pandemic under control, the state’s top health official says.
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health and environment, said Wednesday that he expects to have up to 64,000 test kits that can produce results in 45 minutes, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.
“Very clearly we need to do population studies, meaning testing people who are well,” Norman said. “It’s very fundamental work and will push the analysis (of the virus) upstream. But until that time, social distancing is the name of the game.”
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)