TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas House plans to name a handmade wooden ballot box that it uses in races for leadership positions for the late lawmaker who made it.
The chamber’s Federal and State Affairs Committee is sponsoring a resolution to bestow the honor on the late Rep. Bob Bethell, an Alden Republican. He died in a one-car accident last year driving home after the annual legislative session ended. Bethell had served in the House since 1999.
Bethell, a Baptist minister and talented wood worker, made the ballot box in 2002 because he thought leadership elections deserved something better than the shoe boxes that had been used. He finished the project in 2004.
The box is displayed in the Statehouse office of Legislative Administrative Services Director Jeff Russell.
