Section 9. Conducting a Petition Drive

In Prairie Town, Kansas, the school board was considering the closure of four elementary schools for budgetary reasons. Over the course of several months, one school board member, who was against the school closings, alleged that he and other board members violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act by discussing the selling of these properties during a closed-door meeting. The Act states that "discussions relating to the sale of real property by a public body must be held in an open meeting."

 

Several concerned community members formed a committee to file petitions with the Prairie County clerk to seek the recall of those board members who had violated the Act through petition. The first step was for the committee members to determine the proper procedures for this type of government petition. The committee members enlisted the aid of the county counselor to make sure all legal requirements for the petition were met. They learned that they had 90 days to gather 3,250 signatures of registered voters in order to force a recall election. The petition would be submitted to the county clerk.

 

The committee members recruited 30 people as petition carriers. The names of these people were also submitted to the clerk, as they had to be registered voters. After the petition carriers were approved, the petition to recall the three board members was drafted. Basically, the petition sought the recall of the board members on the grounds of misconduct in office, specifically violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

 

Three months later, the committee was successful in collecting the required number of signatures. A recall vote was therefore held in the county. The community members of the county voted to recall the board members who had violated the law and three replacement board members were selected. This petition drive was successful.

 

The following is the text included in an on-line petition sponsored by the Kansas Action for Children. Its purpose is to make it easy for anyone to become an advocate for children, simply by filling out the petition on-line and clicking the "Sign Petition" button that appears at the bottom of the screen. This process will add the signer to a list of signatures currently being compiled by the site, which will then be sent on to Kansas Governor Bill Graves, as well as certain members of the Kansas Legislation.

 

 

The Kansas portion of the master tobacco settlement provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to make an investment in our children that will benefit our state for generations to come. We urge you to invest 100 percent of the tobacco settlement to support outcomes-based community programs designed to protect the health and future well-being of Kansas children.

 

Name:

Organization, if applicable:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Phone Number:

Fax Number:

E-mail:

 

Name of State Representative, if known:

 

Name of State Senator, if known:

 

__ YES! I would like to receive the KAC Legislative Updates via e-email during the legislative session.

 

__ YES! I would like more information about the Kansas Action for Children.

 

__ YES! I would like more information on how I can become involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of Kansas children.

 

Example #3: Support for detained scientist Syed Jamal in Lawrence, Kansas

Earnest chants filled Massachusetts Street on Thursday as dozens of people marched in support of Syed Ahmed Jamal, a Bangladeshi-born Lawrence scientist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deportation order after 30 years of residency in the U.S.

Nearly 60,000 people have signed a Change.org petition urging authorities to return Jamal to Kansas. Organizers of the march encouraged attendees to continue calling congressional representatives and the Department of Homeland Security and include Jamal’s case number. Read more.