青少年和狗狗都在竞选堪萨斯州长

With 6 Teens Running For Kansas Governor, a Dog Tries, Too

The American state of Kansas does not make it very easy for its citizens to vote.

A person must show proof of American citizenship¹ when registering to vote in an election. Once at the polling place, they must show photo identification.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights says Kansas has among the strictest voter identification laws of any state in the country.

Yet, Kansas has no real laws about who can run for state office.

Bryan Caskey is the Kansas director of elections. He recently told the Kansas City Star newspaper, “There’s seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing.”

There is nothing, then, to stop high school students -- and even a dog -- from seeking to become the next governor of the state.

Jack² Bergeson is a 17-year-old high school student in Wichita. He is also a candidate for Kansas governor. He hopes to become the state’s Democratic Party nominee³ for the election in November. However, he calls himself an “anti-establishment” choice.

On his official website, Bergeson writes, "I may be too young to vote, but I am not too young to see the problems in Kansas that the government should be, but is not, working to fix."

Kansas’ former governor, Sam Brownback, is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected as leader of Kansas in 2011. Last month, he left office to begin his appointment as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

Bergeson announced he was running for office last August, when he was still 16.

Three other high school boys announced soon after that they too would run for governor. They are Republicans. Last October, the four young candidates gathered for a debate at a high school in the city of Lawrence. They discussed their positions on abortion⁴, taxes, environmental policies and other issues.

Dominic Scavuzzo hopes to become the state’s Republican candidate. He told the Wichita Eagle newspaper last October, “This needs to be a government that represents everyone, not just 30 years old up.”

As of now, there are six teenage boys in the 2018 race for Kansas's governor.

And last week, a dog tried to join them.

As the Associated Press reported, Kansan Terran Woolley completed paperwork to enter his three-year-old dog, Angus, in the race for governor. Woolley decided⁵ to do so after hearing about the teenage candidates.

But the Kansas Secretary of State’s office quickly announced it would not permit Angus to run for governor.

Kansas politicians are now trying to pass a bill to establish minimum requirements for candidates to run for office. The bill would bar people under the age of 18 from running for governor, secretary of state or other top offices. It would also require candidates to have lived in Kansas for at least four years.

Many states already have at least some minimum qualifications for people seeking office. In Virginia, for example, a person must have lived in the state for the full year leading up to the election. They must also be qualified⁶ to vote -- and voting age in the United States is 18 and up. California requires that candidates be registered to vote and not have a criminal record.

State rules are often stricter for those running for top offices such as governor. New York, for example, requires all candidates for governor to be at least 30 years of age. They must also have lived in the state for five years immediately before the election.

The proposed Kansas bill would not affect Bergeson and the other teenage candidates. If it becomes a law, it would only take effect after the November election.

Although the proposed bill does not affect his candidacy, Bergeson is still against it.

“I don’t think it’s a good thing,” he told the Kansas City Star. “I’m not a fan of it. I think it’s a reactionary⁷ bill. I think it’s trying to disenfranchise candidates.”

Election Day is November 6.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

polling place - n. a building where people go to vote in an election

strict ?- adj. ?used to describe a command, rule, etc., that must be obeyed?

governor ?- n. ? a person who is the leader of the government of a state, province, etc.?

abortion ?- n. ?a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy⁸ ?

minimum ?- adj. ?least or lowest possible in amount or degree?

disenfranchise ?- v. ?to prevent (a person or group of people) from having the right to vote

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

7 reactionary   

n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的

参考例句：

• They forced thousands of peasants into their reactionary armies.他们迫使成千上万的农民参加他们的反动军队。
• The reactionary ruling clique was torn by internal strife.反动统治集团内部勾心斗角，四分五裂。

8 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。