KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a resolution directing the Wyandotte County Election Commissioner and Secretary of State to make Spanish-language election materials available the availability of voters from the 2025 elections.

That resolution reads as follows:

“Adoption of a resolution directing the Kansas Secretary of State to work collaboratively with the Wyandotte County Elections Commissioner to make Spanish-language election materials available to voters beginning with the 2025 elections.”

This isn’t the first time groups have collaborated to request Spanish-language election materials in Wyandotte County. In fact, several groups sent a letter in August 2023 to Michael Abbott, Wyandotte County Elections Commissioner, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), Cross-Border Network, El Centro, Equality Kansas, Latino Community Network, Loud Light, Mainstream Coalition, MORE2, and the Voters Network.

Charlie Keegan from KSHB 41 attended a presentation in October 2024 more than 1,000 petition signatures demanding more election materials in Spanish.

Federal law requires certain election offices to offer ballots in other languages ​​when:

• More than 5% of voting-age citizens in a jurisdiction are members of a single linguistic minority group and do not “speak or understand English sufficiently to participate in the electoral process.”
• If the rate of citizens who have not completed fifth grade is greater than the national rate of citizens of voting age who have not completed fifth grade.

Six Kansas Counties meet these requirements. Wyandotte County does not, but eight Kansas counties voluntarily provide election materials in languages ​​other than English, including Shawnee, Haskell and Wilson.

Wyandotte County is trending toward falling under federal guidelines in 2026, but that leaves thousands unable to participate until then, these groups say.

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

ACLU Kansas Executive Director Micah Kubic spoke in support of the resolution on Wednesday, sharing census data including:

• There are at least 4,000 Wyandotte County residents who are citizens, of voting age, eligible to vote, but who have limited English proficiency; 70% of this group of eligible citizens are Spanish-speaking.
• The second largest language group, Burmese, represents 7% of the total.
• There are 15,0003 other eligible citizens – voters – who are barely proficient in English but it is not their primary language.
• There are another 41,000 residents whose primary language is not English and who are not yet eligible to vote, either because of their youth or citizenship, but who will one day be on the path to civic engagement.

“This need for access to languages ​​is neither speculative nor theoretical, it is real,” Kubic said in his speech.
Census data also shows that more than 30 percent of Wyandotte County residents are Hispanic or Latino, and 28 percent of residents speak a language other than English.

The ACLU says that even though Wyandotte County does not meet the federal threshold for these materials, it is unfair to deny these materials due to the size of the county compared to eligible counties with much smaller populations: Finney, Ford , Grant, Haskell, Stevens and Seward Counties.

Kubic was not alone in supporting the resolution.

The commission rooms were packed with dozens of people in support of the charter, including Thomas Alonzo of Equality Kansas and Briana Ayala of El Centro, Inc.

Rachel Henderson/KSHB 41

It’s not just about what Alonzo stands for, but also where.

“Qualified voters should have as many opportunities as possible to be able to vote, to understand what they’re voting for,” Alonzo said. “California, Chicago and Florida also have materials in Spanish, and we need to do that for our citizens too. We all know how difficult it is in English, can you imagine a language you don’t know or even though you don’t speak very well?

He further reduced this scope to St. Thomas Church.

That’s where KSHB 41’s Rachel Henderson spoke with him Friday.

Brian Luton/KSHB 41

“My grandparents came to this country and settled here in Armourdale,” Alonzo said. “I was baptized in this church that was a gathering point for the Latino community here in KCK. Even though the church is closed, it has transformed into a social service agency, which I think is also part of how we all helped each other when we came to this country.

It also mattered where he was Wednesday evening: the UG commission meeting.

“They took action and that makes me proud,” Alonzo said. “I was very proud to be there.”

Brian Luton/KSHB 41

So did Ayala, who actively participated in voter mobilization with El Centro, which she says taught her what voting means.

“It’s your own voice,” Ayala said. “That’s the change you want to see.” This is the representation you want to have.

She says it’s disappointing to see the state’s inaction on this issue, but she’s hopeful to see the outcome she and others are fighting for.

“Our voices were not heard, and I think that still happens today,” Ayala said.

When KSHB 41 contacted the elections commissioner for comment, he directed us to Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office.

They emailed a statement that said: “We believe in following federal laws and guidelines. »

“We must try to accommodate all of our voters so that they can participate in the democratic process,” Alonzo said.

It’s a fight he, Ayala and none of these advocacy groups plan to give up or stop urging leaders to address.

“The more attention this gets, the more they’re going to have to take action at some point because it’s not right,” Alonzo said.

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