Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — In Kansas, two groups of people can be denied the right to vote: criminals and the mentally ill.

Rick Cagan says that’s offensive.

“The fact that there’s language in the state constitution that allows this reinforces unfounded fears about persons with mental illness and makes second-class citizens out of a fair number of Kansans,” said Cagan, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Cagan and other advocates have asked legislators to adopt a resolution to drop the language from the constitution.

“It’s blatantly discriminatory,” Cagan said, testifying before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee earlier this week.

“I may have a mental illness, but I’m not stupid,” said Eric Harkness, president of the NAMI chapter in Topeka and a licensed pharmacist.

Though the constitution allows legislators to deny or restrict the voting rights of the mentally ill, no one is aware of a mentally ill person in Kansas having been kept from registering to vote.

But that’s not the point, Cagan said. “The number one issue we deal with as advocates is stigma and getting people to realize that as many as one in four Kansans will have a mental illness at some point in their lives. The language in the constitution is stigmatizing.”

In 1974, voters approved a amendment that dropped the words “persons under guardianship,” “not competent,” and “insane” from the constitution.

“”That started the job we’re trying to finish with this resolution,” Cagan said.

The committee passed the resolution unanimously Tuesday . The resolution passed the full Senate last month, 38-1.

The House is expected to vote on it early next week.

In Kansas, felons may register to vote after they have served their sentences and completed the terms of their parole.