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§ 1. Mode of voting. All elections by the people shall be by ballot or voting device, or both, as the legislature shall by law provide.

History: Adopted by convention, July 29, 1859; ratified by electors, October 4, 1859; L. 1861, p. 57; L. 1974, ch. 463, § 1; November 5, 1974.

Attorney General's Opinions:

Hospital districts of cities of third class and townships; elections of directors; ballots. 83-125.

Section 1 of Article 4 of the Kansas Constitution does not prohibit the use of ranked-choice voting. 2020-7.

CASE ANNOTATIONS

1. Election of school district officer must be by ballot. Lathen v. Campbell, 7 Kan. App. 388, 51 P. 931.

2. Vote "by ballot," defined and considered. Taylor v. Bleakley, 55 Kan. 1, 14, 39 P. 1045.

3. Secrecy does not apply to party affiliation. State, ex rel., v. Beggs, 126 Kan. 811, 271 P. 400.

4. Right of secrecy is personal to elector; waiver; absentee-voters acts constitutional. Lemons v. Noller, 144 Kan. 813, 814, 820, 824, 828, 63 P.2d 177.

5. Inapplicable to school-district vote on increased tax levy. Lowden v. King, 147 Kan. 617, 620, 621, 78 P.2d 29.

6. Cited in dissenting opinion construing absentee voters' act. Burke v. State Board of Canvassers, 152 Kan. 826, 840, 841, 107 P.2d 773.

7. No booths at school bond election; section not violated. Brown v. Rural High School Dist. No. 3, 175 Kan. 310, 312, 315, 262 P.2d 943.

8. Mail ballot election act (25-431 et seq.) constitutional; compelling state interest for increased participation outweighs fraud potential. Sawyer v. Chapman, 240 Kan. 409, 415, 729 P.2d 1220 (1986).

9. Kansas law could not be uniformly applied to common law fraud claims; application of single law rule inapplicable. Koch v. Koch Industries, Inc., 2 F. Supp. 2d 1416, 1420 (1998).