What does the Secretary of State do in Kansas and why does your vote matter? A Conversation with Jennifer Day
Wichita, Kansas | October 22, 2026
By Claudia Amaro | Planeta Venus
People usually focus on elections for governor or senator. Still, the Secretary of State is a public office that directly impacts how we vote, start a business, and handle official paperwork in Kansas.
To help our community connect with state politics, we talked to Jennifer Day, the Democratic candidate for Kansas Secretary of State. She came to Wichita to meet Latina women and share her ideas about voting access, customer service, and why every vote matters.
What does the Secretary of State really do?
Most people think of elections when they hear about the Kansas Secretary of State, but this office has several important jobs. In simple terms, its work falls into three main areas:
• State Election Oversight: The Secretary of State acts as Kansas’s main election director. This office keeps up the statewide voter registration system and works with all 105 counties to manage elections. In Sedgwick County, the Secretary of State also appoints the Commissioner of Elections.
• Small Business Registration and Service: This office is where businesses like corporations or LLCs are officially registered. In 2024, it processed over 206,000 business documents. It also handles business finance records (UCCs).
• Authentication of documents (Apostilles) and public records: If you need to make a birth certificate, university degree, or divorce decree valid in another country, this office provides the apostille. It also publishes Kansas’s official laws and regulations.
An open run
For many years, the Republican Party has usually won the Kansas Secretary of State race. Some experts say this year could be different because the seat is open. The current Republican secretary, Scott Schwab, left to run for governor but did not make it past the primaries. So, no incumbent is running again.
Who is Jennifer Day?
For Jennifer Day, politics is not just an idea; it’s a way to serve others. She moved to Kansas almost 30 years ago after finishing college in Southern California. She enjoyed the open spaces and quality of life, so she stayed. In 2013, she started her own small real estate investment and interior design business.
She became interested in politics in her thirties. “Early in life we’re so busy looking for a career or starting a family that we don’t connect politics to daily life, until something happens,” Day says. She started going to League of Women Voters events and, in 2018, began volunteering in Johnson County elections, a role she kept for eight years.
The turning point for running for office came after the 2020 election. When Day heard claims of nationwide voter fraud that weren’t backed up, she felt outraged:
“As someone who worked on elections for years, I knew how secure and accurate our election processes are in Kansas. Our focus has always been on serving voters accurately and accessibly.”
In 2020, she ran for the Kansas House of Representatives and won by only 62 votes out of nearly 14,000 cast.
“Every vote counts”
For Jennifer Day, winning by 62 votes was more than just a number; it was a life lesson she shares with every community she visits: “I even saw a coin toss to decide a race in a small township south of Overland Park. That’s what it comes down to sometimes: If one more person had gone to vote, they wouldn’t have had to flip a coin. Every vote matters.”
Day says she understands why many people don’t vote. “People are worried about how they’re going to pay their bills or if they’ll have childcare for their kids next week. Their main concern isn’t researching candidates,” she explains. That’s why she wants to make voting and information easier to access.
Key proposals for the community and language access
During her visit to Wichita and in her interview with Planeta Venus, Jennifer Day talked about key issues like equity and accessibility:
A. County Disparity and Spanish-Language Material
In Kansas, each county runs its own elections. Counties with more resources, like Johnson, can send printed information to all registered voters, but smaller counties often can’t afford it. Day shared that she visited Ford County (Dodge City) and looked over their election materials: “There, ballots and ballot envelopes are in both Spanish and English. My goal as Secretary of State is to find funding to standardize access to information and support counties so that all voters have access to the same information.”
B. Extension of the vote-by-mail period
Kansas has one of the shortest early mail-in voting periods in the country: only 20 days, meaning ballots cannot be mailed before then. Because of USPS delays, Day wants to work with the Legislature to extend this period to 30 days: “Twenty days is not enough time for the mail to process and deliver ballots to voters on time. Extending it to 30 days is a priority to ensure that no vote is left uncounted due to mail delays.”
C. Modernization for Small Businesses
As a small business owner who recently hired her first employee, Day knows how complicated it can be to deal with the Secretary of State, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Revenue. She wants to simplify and modernize these digital processes so local entrepreneurs don’t waste time on paperwork.
D. An office with a focus on customer service
Day says she sees the Secretary of State as a nonpartisan role, focused on serving everyone in Kansas: “I’m not looking for headlines or putting my finger on the scales in any way. For me, it’s about providing excellent customer service, whether for a Kansas business that needs to complete a procedure or for a citizen looking for information on how and where to vote, regardless of political affiliation.”
Why This Election Impacts Our Community
The Secretary of State isn’t just an office in Topeka. This office decides who can access the ballot, how transparent our democratic rules are, and how quickly businesses can open. As Jennifer Day says, building trust and making voting easier helps everyone in Kansas.
Comentarios