The Wichita Eagle. January 21, 2021.
Editorial: Scott Schwab was within his rights to oust Tabitha Lehman - but he wasn’t right
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab may be within his rights to fire - or not reappoint - Sedgwick County’s election commissioner.
But the move, besides being callous and cruel, smacks of grudge-holding, and Schwab should reconsider.
Tabitha Lehman is losing her job because she worked from home while undergoing chemotherapy to fight an aggressive form of cancer.
Largely because of her efforts, the most challenging presidential election in modern history went smoothly in Sedgwick County.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when voters worried about possibly being exposed to the virus at their regular polling place, Lehman and her team worked tirelessly to ensure that any resident who wanted to cast a ballot would be able to do so.
They issued a record number of mail ballots, established a network of secure ballot drop boxes, handled a crush of early voting, and staffed in-person voting locations on Election Day.
Despite all the challenges, including her own personal health struggles, Lehman and her staff managed to report November’s election results in a timely manner.
All indications show that the election was a logistical success in Sedgwick County, without any of the drama or challenges that plagued other parts of the country.
But now this.
Long after the fact, Schwab says that because Lehman worked from home, she violated a state policy that restricts remote access to the state’s voter registration database.
Lehman acknowledges that she violated the policy, but only after repeated appeals to Schwab’s office and after tech experts assured her that the county’s remote access “was as secure as physically being at my desk,” she said in a statement.
Schwab’s office has not cited any security breaches, nor did he question the results of the November election. Lehman, like many people whose health conditions put them at higher risk for the virus, found a way to work from home, and she did it successfully.
Nonetheless, Schwab is putting the hammer down on this policy breach, abruptly ending the appointment of a woman - and fellow Republican - who has led the county’s election office for nearly a decade.
What’s behind it? Signs point to increasing animosity between the secretary of state, whose recent actions make running elections more difficult, and Lehman, who favors policies and practices that make it easier for people to vote.
Sedgwick County has been battling Schwab for more than a year over the implementation of a law that would let residents vote at any polling place in their county.
Instead of embracing the idea and allowing counties to offer “vote anywhere” whenever they’re able, Schwab has dragged his feet on writing the rules and regulations. Now the law won’t likely be implemented until 2023 elections - more than 4 1/2 years after lawmakers passed it.
Schwab may believe he’s acting in the interest of election security. But ousting an experienced and devoted official who worked through hospital stays and chemotherapy treatments is unnecessarily severe.
Sedgwick County leaders are wise to back legislation that would allow the County Commission, rather than the secretary of state, to appoint election commissioners. That’s what already happens in 101 of the state’s 105 counties.
In the meantime, Schwab should focus his efforts toward free, fair, well-run elections - not punishing those who are doing the same.
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The Kansas City Star. January 21, 2021.
Editorial: Kansas seniors, the COVID-19 vaccine is here - but you’re on your own to find a dose
All Kansas residents 65 and over suddenly become eligible Thursday for COVID-19 vaccinations - a happy milestone, but one that likely sets off an Oklahoma land rush-style dash for shots that may or may not be at the ready and that few know where to go for.
With Thursday’s arrival of Phase 2 of the state’s five-phase rollout, tech-savvy seniors can go online to see what process, if any, their county public health department has mapped out - and whether vaccines are even available. Others might want to call their primary care doctors or the county health department to see.
It’s still expected to take half a year or more to get to everyone in the state. But at least it’s getting real, now that seniors with no underlying health risks can get vaccinated. Some critical workers are eligible, too.
Good. The state has a lot of ground to make up.
As evidence of that, Gov. Laura Kelly also announced Thursday that her special COVID-19 adviser, Dr. Marci Nielsen, is leaving her private-sector job to help lead the state’s vaccine distribution full time. And the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has belatedly unveiled an online dashboard, updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays by 12:30 p.m., to inform residents on the progress of vaccinations.
As of Wednesday, the state dashboard reported a total of 129,349 vaccinations - 17,712 of which were second doses. That covered 111,905 residents, or about 3.8% of the population.
The vaccine rollout has been severely lacking nationwide, but Kansas’ vaccination rate recently ranked at the absolute bottom. State officials explain that health care providers weren’t fully uploading information to the state, and the state’s data wasn’t properly uploading to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While officials say both problems have been fixed, Nielsen’s welcome hire and the delayed dashboard addition are undoubtedly a response to the Sunflower State’s embarrassing early performance.
Besides heading up Kelly’s COVID-19 unified testing strategy, Nielsen also led the Kansas Health Policy Authority - which administers Medicaid - under then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Having her lead the vaccine program full-time is a solid move, and Nielsen deserves the state’s thanks for taking on this new and critical role.
Her challenge is historic and monumental.
As one state official noted, no one in history has ever set out to administer two doses of vaccines to an entire population in the grip of a pandemic.
In addition, Kansas’ early blunders included poor communication within agencies and with the public. And as many health care providers as possible must be looped into the state’s vaccination efforts.
Phase 2 of vaccinations presents its own set of obstacles. For one thing, while officialdom and much of the population rely heavily on the internet for both information and interface, many of those 65 and older do not. So how do state and county health officials get the word to seniors that they can now be vaccinated?
Clearly, this needs to be an all-hands-on-deck approach. The state is giving counties wide latitude in how they handle this. Doctors’ offices, hospitals, health departments, news media, pharmacies - even grocery stores and churches - will be vital in spreading the word. At the same time, the benefit and safety of the vaccines will have to be sold to the vaccine-hesitant.
And, of course, the biggest challenge of all? Actually getting the vaccines in a more timely fashion. Perhaps President Joe Biden’s administration will have something to say about that.
As the doctor repeatedly tells the rusty pilot in the movie “Airplane”: Good luck. We’re all counting on you.
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