Kansas Supreme Court won’t hear No Labels ballot-access challenge

Its candidate for secretary of state won’t appear on ballots

A candidate who was disavowed by No Labels Kansas – which dissolved in May – lost his court challenge and will not be on the Nov. 3 ballot, nor will the disputed entity be accepted as a political party.

The Kansas Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to place Kris van Meteren on the ballot for secretary of state. The Court also refused to transfer the ballot access of No Labels Kansas to the new entity calling itself by the same name.

The court’s refusal leaves in place a State Board of Objections decision backing the dissolution of the original No Labels Kansas, a move that the official party itself sought and was accepted by Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab. The 5,955 Kansans registered under No Labels will be reclassified as unaffiliated.

The initial Kansas party sought dissolution in May, only to have Van Meteren, a Republican, claim the mantle of the party. National No Labels stepped in, saying that Van Meteren misrepresented himself as chair of the party and had no authority to place candidates on the ballot. The Kansas secretary of state and national No Labels recognize Glenda Reynolds, a Democrat, as party chair.

Van Meteren said that he had filed the paperwork ahead of the candidate filing deadline of June 1, 2024, incorporating the organization as a business entity. He said that he held a convention and was named chair. They gathered signatures to place the party on Kansas ballots. By April 2026, David Miller was elected chair.

The initial party balked at the new group running under the same name and sent a letter to the secretary of state on May 15, 2026: “As you know from the No Labels Kansas State Committee’s initial submission, which included an adopted copy of the organization’s Constitution and Bylaws, No Labels Kansas was formed only for the purpose of potentially nominating candidates for President and Vice President. Because No Labels Kansas declined to nominate candidates for those offices in 2024 and has no intention of doing so in the future, its central organizational purpose no longer exists. Consequently, No Labels Kansas hereby requests the termination of any recognition for No Labels Kansas as a state political party and all its functions, duties, requirements, and processes granted under Kansas state law.”

Three days later, Secretary of State Scott Schwab terminated No Labels Kansas’ status as a recognized party and ended its ballot access. The State Objections Board upheld the decision.

Four parties have ballot access in Kansas: The Republican Party, Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, and United Party – a merger of the United Kansas Party and the Free State Party.