The website for Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly falsely informed the public that her offices were closed for the past six months until a series of inquiries from the Daily Caller.
Until Monday, visitors to Kelly’s website looking for Constituent Services were told that the offices “are currently closed to the general public, and will remain closed until further notice.” The Caller contacted Kelly’s office on Sept. 27 and again on Oct. 31 to ask why the website was claiming the offices were closed.
On the Oct. 31 phone call to the number listed on Kelly’s site, a representative answered the phone and told the Caller bluntly that their “Constituent Services offices are open,” and that they have been since “about February at the very least.”
Screenshot of Kelly’s website, which read the following until October 31.
According to Wayback Machine, the last time the website said the office was open was Jan. 10 of 2021, when COVID-19 was in full swing.
The person working for Kelly’s office said “maybe [the website] hasn’t been updated,” despite the office having met with an IT team.
A website will generally “update when you save the changes, as fast as it can update. Which is pretty quickly,” a website development expert with 20 years experience managing official sites told the Caller.
The person working for Kelly’s office added that they “assume perhaps other individuals have maybe been confused” about the website, “but usually people are able to call and we let them know that they’re able to come in.”
After speaking with the Caller for the second time, Kelly’s office immediately updated the website to remove the statement that the Constituent Services offices were closed. (RELATED: GOP Projected To Score Four Gubernatorial Wins In Midterms)
Kelly is running for re-election in November against Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt. The Democrat is “slightly favored” to win against Schmidt, according to a model from FiveThirtyEight. However, Schmidt was trailing behind by only two points in the last poll listed on FiveThirtyEight’s website, with Kelly coming in at 45% and the Republican at 43%.
“Laura Kelly locked people out of their jobs, locked kids out of their schools, and is still locking Kansans out of her own office. Kansans deserve a governor who will listen to them, and they’ll have one in Derek Schmidt,” Schmidt’s campaign manager, CJ Grover, told the Caller.
Kelly’s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Caller.