With just weeks to go until Election Day, Kansans voting by mail will be able to deliver their ballots at designated ballot drop box locations in their county, providing another option to ensure ballots are received on time.
Celisa
Posted inCivic Engagement
Notary needed: How Kansas City residents are stepping up to ensure voter participation
In a year when election officials are expecting record turnout numbers and more voters want to vote by mail ahead of Election Day, access to a notary could mean the difference between someone casting their vote remotely and having to vote in person.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Is your local election website as secure as it could be?
Cybersecurity experts say one of the most common and easiest measures to implement is an https encryption. But while many people rely on these local county election websites as trusted sources of election and voting information — particularly in a pivotal election year — many of these information hubs lack proper security measures against cyberattacks.
Posted inEconomics
Months into the pandemic, workers in Kansas City are struggling to stay afloat
The most recent data available shows that about 87,000 people across Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, have found themselves out of work and out of money in the middle of a worsening global health crisis.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Missouri secretary of state contradicts health officials’ advice on Election Day plans
Jay Ashcroft’s comments come at a time when more voters are expressing interest in voting by mail in November.
Posted inCivic Engagement
What justice looks like to Kansas City moms who lost their sons to police violence
Since 2013, 265 people have been shot and killed by law enforcement in Kansas and Missouri — 30 by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department alone. Their deaths have left behind mothers, sisters, children, friends and family whose lives have been uprooted by sudden loss.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Activists want to defund KCPD. Here’s what that means.
Amid mass protests against police violence in Kansas City and throughout the nation, one three-word phrase keeps coming up: “Defund the police.” But what does it actually mean? The Beacon spoke to local activists to explain the thinking behind the phrase that has caught national attention. Calls to defund the police are rooted in critiques that police departments receive exorbitant funding that should instead be reinvested into programs that directly aid the community. It is that dichotomy — of a police department with too much money and social programs with too little — that local activists say they want to change.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Kansas City faces a big obstacle when it comes to police reform: local control of its police department
At a time of mass protests against police violence — where calls to increase officer accountability and even defund police departments are being amplified across the country — Kansas City, Mo., stands out as the only major U.S. city without local control of its police department. For 80 years, a board appointed by the Missouri governor has controlled the police department.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Why Kansas City’s protest story is different
Thirteen black men killed at the hands of Kansas City police. The only major police department without local control. As demonstrations against police killings of black Americans continue across the country, we dive deeper.
Posted inCivic Engagement
Representation — and federal funding — at stake with 2020 Census
Local leaders fear a bigger undercount in 2020 — and its potential impact on services. The risks of an undercount are even higher for people of color, children, rural communities, and other vulnerable groups who rely on social safety programs that distribute funds based on Census data.