The Kansas Legislature gave final approval on March 19 to place a question on the August 2026 ballot that would allow voters to elect members of the state’s supreme court.
The state House passed the bill authorizing the proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611, by 84–40 on March 19. The state Senate had approved the bill 27–13 on March 6.
The current “merit-based nomination process” comes into play whenever a vacancy occurs on the officially nonpartisan, seven-member court, according to a state judiciary website. A nine-member nominating commission, most of whose members are required to be lawyers, recommends three applicants to the sitting governor who then appoints one of the applicants to the court….