• About The Journal
  • Our Team
  • Topics
    • Justice
    • Health
    • Solutions
    • Economy
    • Education
  • Facebook Page
  • Twitter Username
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Support Our Publication

Menu

  • About The Journal
  • Corrections and Clarifications
  • Journal Talks:
    Guns and Public Safety
  • Transparency and Ethics at The Journal

Categories

  • Civic Engagement
  • Communities of Color and Law Enforcement
  • Community
  • COVID-19
  • Culture
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Education at a Crossroads
  • En Español
  • Events
  • Faith
  • Food & Agriculture
  • Guns and Public Safety
  • Health
  • Higher Education
  • History
  • Housing
  • Immigration
  • In Focus: Water
  • International
  • Journal Events
  • Justice
  • Kansas
  • Leadership
  • Main Story
  • Mental Health
  • Neighborhoods
  • News & Information
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Rural
  • Solutions Journalism
  • Sponsored Projects
  • State Government
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized
  • Voting
  • Wichita Journalism Collaborative

Recent Posts

  • Opinion: Thank you for being a part of The Journal in 2022
  • What did Journal readers want to read about in 2022? The economy.
  • Remembering the work of Broderick Crawford, 1961-2022
  • This database upholds policing ethics. But not all forces use it.
  • This Kansas jail found ways to lock up fewer mentally ill inmates

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
Support Our Publication

Menu

  • About The Journal
  • Corrections and Clarifications
  • Journal Talks:
    Guns and Public Safety
  • Transparency and Ethics at The Journal

Categories

  • Civic Engagement
  • Communities of Color and Law Enforcement
  • Community
  • COVID-19
  • Culture
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Education at a Crossroads
  • En Español
  • Events
  • Faith
  • Food & Agriculture
  • Guns and Public Safety
  • Health
  • Higher Education
  • History
  • Housing
  • Immigration
  • In Focus: Water
  • International
  • Journal Events
  • Justice
  • Kansas
  • Leadership
  • Main Story
  • Mental Health
  • Neighborhoods
  • News & Information
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Rural
  • Solutions Journalism
  • Sponsored Projects
  • State Government
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized
  • Voting
  • Wichita Journalism Collaborative

Recent Posts

  • Opinion: Thank you for being a part of The Journal in 2022
  • What did Journal readers want to read about in 2022? The economy.
  • Remembering the work of Broderick Crawford, 1961-2022
  • This database upholds policing ethics. But not all forces use it.
  • This Kansas jail found ways to lock up fewer mentally ill inmates

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
Skip to content
KLC Journal

KLC Journal

A Civic Issues Magazine from the Kansas Leadership Center

DONATE
Posted inCivic Engagement

Opinion: How The Journal plans to cover the 2022 elections

by Chris GreenSeptember 14, 2022October 18, 2022

Share this:

A recount of the Kansas abortion amendment election in August 2022
Rather than covering candidates or issues, the magazine will focus on increasing civic knowledge about the election system in Kansas.

The Journal, the Kansas Leadership Center’s civic issues magazine, historically puts considerable energy into covering elections.

Over the years, we’ve published extensive profiles of statewide candidates, explored why it is hard to persuade some Kansans to vote at all, asked candidates across the state to discuss key issues through surveys and worked to turn suggestions from our readers into deep dives that illuminate the most pressing civic challenges.

We’ve covered presidential races, gubernatorial races, and some city council and school board races.

Why are elections so important to our publication? It is rooted in the mission of our parent organization, which strives to “foster civic leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous Kansas communities.” Having a Kansas electorate that is informed, engaged and positioned to advance its values through the ballot box is fundamental to ensuring that the state can make progress on its most daunting challenges, and we work to fill voids we see in the system.

While voting isn’t necessarily an act of leadership, it is the most basic civic action that a citizen can take, and the foundation upon which other forms of civic engagement are built. If you are eligible to vote and don’t do it, it’s hard for me to see a path to progress for your aspirations. Democracy is set up to respond to the desires of those who show up.

But The Journal’s election coverage has always been very different from what you might see in other places. We don’t cover politics like a horse race – focused on who’s ahead and who’s trailing. And we don’t have a political party, candidate or set of policies we’re pulling for. Our biggest concern has been about the constitutional republic itself, and reporting and provoking discussion on it in ways that make the system stronger for everyone.

For that reason, The Journal joined the Wichita Journalism Collaborative’s participation in Democracy Day, an effort to draw attention to the challenges facing American democracy and to provide the public with context and information to address threats facing it. Some of our Democracy Day colleagues believe that democracy in this country faces unprecedented threats, endangering both constitutional rights and the ability of journalists to do their jobs. 

We hope that’s not true, and that this is a moment that will soon pass. So, we enter this effort today in the spirit of curiosity and holding and testing multiple interpretations. But we also acknowledge that, in this era of increasing partisan antipathy, the validity of Kansas elections is being questioned in ways we’ve never seen before. The unsuccessful recount of a decisive vote against a constitutional amendment in the August primary being the most recent, high-profile example.

Just days after that vote, back in August, when Journal contributors gathered for their monthly meeting via Zoom, I tasked them with answering the following question: How could The Journal cover elections and voting in 2022 in ways that would strengthen democracy and democratic institutions?

Over the course of a few days, they agreed to pursue at least a half dozen election stories that aren’t about candidates or differences on the issues but are designed to shed light on our elections and how they function. Among the topics we hope to explore:

  • The history of Kansas election laws and how we got the ones we have
  • Profiles of poll workers and the election officers who make our system function
  • The rules of voter registration
  • A deeper look at why some Kansans do not trust our elections
  • What poll watchers can help us understand about the security of our elections
  • What would happen if Kansans couldn’t agree on who won an election

A team of correspondents is currently working on a series of stories that we plan to begin publishing in mid-October in a digital-only edition of The Journal. But it’s not too late for you to submit questions of your own.

We’ve created a form to learn what you’re curious about or concerned about when it comes to elections. You can also share your thoughts on what kind of leadership you think would be necessary to ensure widespread trust in our nation’s elections.

This feels like a significant moment in Kansas, where better understanding of our elections and how they work can inform and empower our state’s residents to exercise leadership in strengthening the republic.

Sign up for email updates about The Journal’s content.

Recent Stories

Opinion: Thank you for being a part of The Journal in 2022

January 3, 2023

What did Journal readers want to read about in 2022? The economy.

December 27, 2022

Remembering the work of Broderick Crawford, 1961-2022

December 20, 2022

This database upholds policing ethics. But not all forces use it.

December 20, 2022

This Kansas jail found ways to lock up fewer mentally ill inmates

December 19, 2022

A teen’s death spurs changes. But do they go far enough?

December 19, 2022

Responding to a mental health crisis without badges or guns

December 19, 2022

Clay target shooting brings kids and guns together for good

December 13, 2022
Tagged: Democracy Day
  • Facebook Page
  • Twitter Username
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

325 East Douglas Avenue, Wichita, KS 67202
Phone: 316-712-4945
Email: thejournal@kansasleadershipcenter.org

  • ABOUT THE JOURNAL
  • OUR TEAM
  • OUR BOARD
  • SUPPORT THE JOURNAL
  • CORRECTIONS
© 2023 KLC Journal. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic