ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Kansas Secretary of State office is very important, and one of the people running in that race for this election cycle is Jennifer Day.

As Day tells it, politics has always been in the background during her career.

“I'm a small business owner. I've owned my real estate investment business since 2013 and got involved in that because my family was involved in commercial real estate all my life, so my career just evolved through that,” Day said. “Prior to that, I was an executive assistant for various corporations in different industries for multiple years. I got involved in politics because of paying attention to what was happening in Topeka back in 2014 with the Brownback experiment. That had started taking over all our news cycles, and I was hearing about how our schools weren't being funded well enough, and it was taking away from our highway fund in order to fund other parts of our government. I started going to legislative events where I could hear from and speak to my legislators. Things rather started rolling from there, and in 2018, I started going out and volunteering to knock on doors for candidates and help people understand what was going to be on their ballot, and I started donating to candidates that year as well. I also started working elections in 2018 and I've been doing that ever since. I got more and more involved with that and kept knocking on doors and got involved with the League of Women Voters, which I've been a part of since 2019. I started getting involved because of what was happening here in the state of Kansas, that was very important to me.”

Ultimately, Day decided to first run for office back in 2018.

“I ran for office in 2020 because my House representative was stepping down – the COVID-19 pandemic was impacting his family in a negative way, so he ultimately decided, he didn't want to do that anymore,” Day said. “I was approached and asked if I'd be willing to run for his seat, and I did, and I won by just 62 votes out of almost 14,000 voters that year. It really hit me because when he ran in 2018, he'd won by only 74 votes or something like that. When it comes to these elections, these are state offices, House representatives, Senate seats, etc., and every vote makes such a big difference. And again, because of the work I've been doing as an election worker for the last several years, elections have become very important to me.”

Having done the work in the past, Day said she finds the election cycle very interesting.

“It's a fun and fascinating process, and I love helping people through that process of voting,” Day said. “My goal is to always make people feel more comfortable when they come in to vote. I'm so excited to see every voter come through the door, and it's disappointing to me when there’s low turnout, because that shows people are kind of disengaged with the process and feel like maybe their vote doesn't matter. I want to help people understand just how important their vote is and how impactful their decision can be on their day to day lives, so I think that's what carries through for me. In 2020 I ran and won that election, but I knew I was only going to be in that seat for a year because I was building a house outside of my district. I worked in the legislature for that year in 2021 really enjoyed it, and when I had to resign that seat the following summer, it was really hard for me to do, so I've just stayed very involved with local politics in my area, whether it's as a volunteer or an organizer. I was the vice president for the  Johnson County League in 2023, which meant I was in charge of creating all the programs for voter education that year, and then I started looking at what my future was going to be like, and I actually thought I was going to be planning on running for my House seat this year in 2026, but then Scott Schwab, the current Secretary of State, said he was running for governor, which meant the Secretary of state office was going to be an open seat, and that office is important for someone who has experience like I do.”

That previous experience, Day said, will be very beneficial should she be elected to the office.

“I think having my past experience brings a certain perspective to the job that will help me connect better with county clerks, but also with voters, because I've been in those trenches for the last several years,” Day said. “Also, as a small business owner, it's something I have to do on a regular basis to go out there and file to make sure my business stays in good standing, and the Secretary of State is in charge of all of the records for the state. It's such an important office I think I'm very well suited for, so when the opportunity arose, I talked to some friends about whether they thought this was something I should do, and I ultimately filed in October. Then, in 2020, when Donald Trump lost his re-election bid, it brought a lot of attention to this position across the United States in a lot of ways, and it also brought attention to election workers and those clerks who are working hard to process our votes and make sure they get counted, and I feel very protective of that role because I know how great our elections are in Kansas. We have really safe and secure and great processes in place, as far as our elections go.”

Day said a major goal of hers is to help maintain that security.

“I've really appreciated Secretary Schwab for the last several years, trying to help people understand just how safe and secure our elections are, how accurate it is, and how we have these processes in place to ensure accuracy, and I just want to carry on with that tradition,” Day said. “I think we need to make sure that we maintain and build on the modernization he's worked on over the last several years. Again, as a business owner, I’ve found some parts of the element of filing for my business, as well as for hiring employees, to be a little clunky within that element, so I'd like to work with the other departments to try to see if there are ways we can make that go more smoothly, because I don't want there to be any hindrances or roadblocks to businesses in Kansas. I'd like people to enjoy doing business here, but also, again, stand on that tradition of helping people understand how safe and secure our elections are, how great they are at this point in time in Kansas, and how we want to keep that greatness going and not make it harder for people to vote, but actually encourage more people to be a part of the process.”

One way to help people be part of the process, Day said, is to expand advance and mail-in voting.

“In Kansas, the advanced voting period is only 20 days, the shortest in the nation,” Day said. “One of my goals, which might be somewhat lofty, is to try to expand that to 30 days so we have more time to be able to process those mail ballots. We can't send out mail ballots until that 20-day period starts, so we need to really expand that, especially for the rural communities. I want people to understand how voting has an impact not just in their community, but at the state level for their neighbors and themselves, and how the people they're voting for are going to shape policy potentially for decades to come, whether it’s with education or healthcare or other infrastructure priorities.”

Day also offered encouragement for constituents to reach out to her on her social media pages and visit her Web site, electjenday.com to learn more about her stances on the issues.

“I'm not going into this with any kind of agenda, except trying to get more people active in the voting process, that's all I'm looking for,” Day said. “At the end of the day, I just want fair, safe, and accessible elections for all Kansans.”