UH-OH: The Slowest Mail in the Country is in Key Swing States, NBC Investigation Finds
September 19, 2024 | News Article
NBC News | Washington, D.C.
In 2020, when the United States Postal Service began an ambitious plan to modernize and consolidate services – in the middle of the pandemic – its slow service wound up disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters whose ballots never made it to their elections offices in time.
Four years later – by some measures – USPS performance is now actually worse, with another nail-biter of an election fast-approaching.
'This is Unacceptable': Top Kansas Election Official Demands Answers from USPS After Mail Errors in Primary Election
September 9, 2024 | News Article
KSNT | Topeka, Kansas
Kansas Secretary of State (SOS) Scott Schwab is calling for answers from the U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for alleged mishandling of Primary Election ballots in 2024.
Schwab issued the letter on Monday, Sept. 9, asking DeJoy to provide answers for the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) alleged mishandling of legally cast Primary Election ballots along with assurances these issues will be resolved in time for the upcoming General Election in November. The SOS reports the ballots of 1,000 Kansans were either properly postmarked but received by county election offices after the three-day grace period or lacked a required postmark.
Mail-in Ballots Raise Security Questions and Worries About USPS Delays in Kansas
August 25, 2024 | News Article
The Topeka Capital-Journal | Topeka, Kansas
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab is protecting the integrity of our elections and has rightly advised voters against mailing ballots. Instead, Schwab says voters should take ballots to a secure dropbox location or vote early in person.
The Election Transparency Initiative, a national grassroots public policy organization, which I lead, enlists thousands of Kansas-based activists and would like to salute Secretary Schwab for pinpointing a significant problem with the election system relating to mail ballots.
Kansas Secretary of State Advises Against Mailing Ballots
July 30, 2024 | News Article
KWCH | Wichita, Kansas
Kansas Secretary of State, Scott Schwab continues his message to voters, encouraging them not to mail back their ballots if they have another option. Instead, Schwab says voters should take the ballot to the drop box or vote early in person.
Schwab says sometimes ballots show up late when mailed.
Kansas Secretary of State has Concerns with Mail In Ballots Getting to Polls on Time
July 26, 2024 | News Article
KAKE | Wichita, Kansas
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab wants people to stop casting their absentee ballots through the mail.
He says ballots can sometimes get lost or delayed in the mail and you can't ensure yours will make it to the election office on time.
US Election Security Official Warns of 'Significant Misinformation' Following Trump Assassination Attempt, Biden Exit
July 25, 2024 | News Article
The Record | National
The top group of U.S. election chiefs last week unveiled a new leadership roster ahead of the 2024 presidential race.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who recently led the National Association of Secretaries of State, was named co-chair of the organization’s cybersecurity committee when election executives gathered for their summer meeting in Puerto Rico.
Many Americans Don't Trust Mail-In Voting. What Can Be Done?
May 17, 2024 | News Article
The Christian Science Monitor | National
Since his rise to the heights of politics nine years ago, former U.S. President Donald Trump has continuously denounced mail-in voting as a concrete example of what he claims is endemic fraud in American elections.
Without evidence, he has depicted mail voting as an open portal in many states, an easy way for Democrats, foreign countries, or unauthorized immigrants to shovel millions of fake, election-flipping votes into the electoral system.
America's Election Chiefs are Worried AI is Coming for Them
March 11, 2024 | News Article
Politico | National
A false call from a secretary of state telling poll workers they aren’t needed on Election Day. A fake video of a state election director shredding ballots before they’re counted. An email sent to a county election official trying to phish logins to its voter database.
Election officials worry that the rise of generative AI makes this kind of attack on the democratic process even easier ahead of the November election — and they’re looking for ways to combat it.
State Officials Prepare for Significant Threats Ahead of 2024 Election
March 5, 2024 | News Article
CBN News | National
The threat environment for the 2024 election cycle is considered to be very high as bad actors, both foreign and domestic, could seek to disrupt U.S. voting systems.
Still, state officials say they have tools at their disposal to ensure the 2024 election is safe and accurate.
Two States' Top Election Officials Talk About Threats Arising from Election Denialism
February 9, 2024 | News Article
The Takeout | National
As the Supreme Court weighs whether Colorado can bar former President Donald Trump from its primary, two secretaries of state, one Republican and one Democrat, agree that election denialism poses a threat to local officials but clash on whether Trump must be convicted of a criminal offense to be excluded from the ballot.
"He hasn't been tried, and so I don't want the arbitrary authority as a secretary of saying, 'Well, I think you did so, therefore I can take you off the ballot,'" Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, said in a conversation recorded on Feb. 6, two days before the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump's 14th Amendment case. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, disagreed, asserting that the law does not require Trump to be found guilty of insurrection to disqualify him from holding office.
Scott Schwab Reveals 2024 Legislative Agenda
January 8, 2024 | News Article
KSNT | Topeka, Kansas
Kansas’ Secretary of State has announced the major objectives his office will be pursuing in the legislature this year.
Among the three agenda items Schwab unveiled for 2024 include moving to modernize and streamline the state’s rules and regulations process, get rid of unnecessary business filing requirements and minimize taxpayer waste by updating publications statutes.
Artificial Intelligence's Threat to Democracy
January 3, 2024 | News Article
Foreign Affairs | National
Generative artificial intelligence—AI that can create new text, images, and other media out of existing data—is one of the most disruptive technologies in centuries. With this technology now more available and powerful than ever, its malicious use is poised to test the security of the United States’ electoral process by giving nefarious actors intent on undermining American democracy—including China, Iran, and Russia—the ability to supercharge their tactics. Specifically, generative AI will amplify cybersecurity risks and make it easier, faster, and cheaper to flood the country with fake content.
Although the technology won’t introduce fundamentally new risks in the 2024 election—bad actors have used cyberthreats and disinformation for years to try to undermine the American electoral process—it will intensify existing risks. Generative AI in the hands of adversaries could threaten each part of the electoral process, including the registration of voters, the casting of votes, and the reporting of results. In large part, responsibility for meeting this threat will fall to the country’s state and local election officials. For nearly 250 years, these officials have protected the electoral process from foreign adversaries, wars, natural disasters, pandemics, and disruptive technologies.
Secretary of State Announces Kickoff for First Statewide Election in 2024
December 5, 2023 | News Release
Hays Post | Hays, Kansas
TOPEKA – Today, Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced the kickoff for the first statewide election in 2024, the Presidential Preference Primary (PPP).
Last week marked the first important deadline of the March 19, 2024, Presidential Preference Primary when the Republican and Democratic parties notified the Secretary of State’s Election Division that they would be participating in the preference primary. The PPP replaces caucuses that parties had conducted in recent years to determine how delegates to the national conventions would be allocated.
Secretary of State's Office Changing How Often Businesses File
November 17, 2023 | Letter to the Editor
Hutch Post | Hutchinson, Kansas
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab let Hutch Post know of a change in the law to hopefully reduce the regulatory burden both on businesses and on his office.
"You have to do an annual report, which just says, yes, we are still a business and these are the folks that are in charge of this business," Schwab said. "We're switching that to every other year. This is an initiative we came into office with in 2019. Originally, we wanted to do three or four years, but the bankers and the attorneys didn't like going that far out, because it's easy to hide fraud."
Opportunity for Students to Serve as Poll Workers for Election
October 14, 2023 | Letter to the Editor
Hays Post | Hays, Kansas
As we approach the November 2023 general municipal election, I am encouraging Kansans to take advantage of the opportunity to serve as a poll worker at your county election office.
Poll working is an excellent way to pursue civic engagement and learn more about our electoral process.
After Vouching for Election Security, Kansas Secretary of State Leads National Group
July 12, 2023 | News Article
Topeka Captial Journal | Topeka, Kansas
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who vouched for the integrity of elections despite political pressure not to, will now lead a national organization of election officials.
Schwab on Wednesday became president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. He will lead the organization of top election officials from across the country during the 2024 presidential primaries.
Kansas Secretary of State Answers Questions on How State's Elections Work
October 21, 2022 | News Article
KSHB | Kansas City, Kansas
As rumors continue to circulate regarding the integrity of elections across the country, the Kansas Secretary of State wants voters to have the same information he does about how elections work in Kansas.
Scott Schwab, a Republican, was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 2002.
