Loud Light is a left-of-center voter access advocacy group founded and run by Davis Hammet. Though the organization is legally based in Florida, it exclusively operates in Kansas where Hammet lives.

Loud Light is a member of the Alliance for Youth Action, a network of youth voter advocacy groups. ¹ Loud Light is also a member of the Kansas Youth Power Coalition. ²

Activity

Loud Light primarily engaged in voter registration campaigns targeted at students and young potential voters until August 2021. The organization’s website provides voter registration forms and information on registration regulations, such as the rule that college students can register from their parents’ address or school address. executive director Davis Hammet periodically writes explainers on key legislative issues and voting regulations. ³

In October 2021, Kansas governor Laura Kelly (D-KS) worked with Loud Light, Demos, and ACLU Kansas to expand voter registration opportunities. ⁴

Voter Registration Cessation

In August 2021, Davis Hammet announced that Loud Light was ceasing all voter registration efforts due to the passage of House Bill 2183 and House Bill 2332, two new Kansas voter security laws. According to a YouTube video from Hammet, the law imposes harsh penalties on individuals who impersonate electoral officials, and the language of the law broadens the criteria of impersonation. ⁵

In June 2021, Loud Light, the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center filed a lawsuit against the new registration regulations. ⁶

Lawsuits

In July 2019, the ACLU Kansas won a lawsuit on behalf of Loud Light and Davis Hammet against then-Johnson County election commissioner Ronnie Metsker for failing to produce a list of voters who had cast provisional ballots. ⁷

In June 2020, the ACLU Kansas filed a lawsuit on behalf of Loud Light and Hammet against Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R) for allegedly violating the Kansas Open Records Act. Loud Light had requested public voter information from the state and filed the lawsuit after waiting more than 300 days. The following month, the Shawnee County District Court ordered Secretary Schwab to produce the voting records within 24 hours. ⁸

In 2021, Loud Light and Hammet sued Secretary Schwab again, this time for removing a function from the state’s website that showed which provisional ballots were not counted. Provisional ballots in Kansas are ballots created when a voter goes to the wrong polling station, but which can later be counted if filed correctly. In October, the Shawnee County District Court ruled that the removal of the function did not violate the Kansas Open Records Act because by removing the function, the state no longer kept records of unfiled provisional ballots, and therefore could not be compelled to publicly display non-existent records. ⁹

Leadership

Davis Hammet founded Loud Light in 2015. While at Florida State University, he was a campus coordinator for RePower, a left-wing activist training organization. After graduating, he interned for the U.S. Senate campaign of then-Florida Governor Charlie Crist (I, later D-FL). In 2012, Hammet became director of operations at Planting Peace, a global left-of-center anti-poverty group. He is credited as a co-creator of the group’s “Equality House” a headquarters painted with the LGBT rainbow symbol located across the street from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. ^{10 11}

Sarah Ogelsby-Dunegan, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is the vice-president of Loud Light. ¹² In May 2018, Ogelsby-Dunegan was one of 18 individuals arrested for criminal trespassing during a sit-in protest against Kansas’s voting laws organized by the Poor People’s Campaign at the office of then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R). ¹³

Funding

In 2019, Loud Light had $94,947 in revenue, all of which came from donations. The group’s funding rapidly increased from its founding until 2018, when it peaked at over $190,000. ¹⁴

Loud Light received a $50,000 Increasing Youth Civic Participation in Kansas grant from the Kansas Health Foundation. ¹⁵

Loud Light has received donations from the Movement Voter Project’s Youth and Student Fund. ¹⁶

1. “The Alliance Network.” Alliance for Youth Action. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://allianceforyouthaction.org/.
2. “RESULTS.” Loud Light. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.loudlight.org/events.
3. “Loud Light.” Loud Light. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.loudlight.org/.
4. “Governor Laura Kelly Announces Expanded Voter Registration Opportunities for Kansas.” Kansas Office of the Governor. October 1, 2021.Accessed January 19, 2022. https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-laura-kelly-announces-expanded-voter-registration-opportunities-for-kansans/.
5. “Loud Light Suspends Voter Registration Due to New Voter Suppression Law.” YouTube. June 30, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-27wPlXMjP4.
6. “Kansas Civic Groups File Motion for Temporary Injunction Against New Voter Education Restriction.” League of Womens Voters of Kansas. June 1, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://lwvk.org/about-lwv-of-kansas/press-releases.
7. ^[1] “Loud Light & Hammet v. Schwab.” ACLU Kansas. June 24, 2020. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.aclukansas.org/en/cases/loud-light-hammet-v-schwab.
8. “Loud Light & Hammet v. Schwab.” ACLU Kansas. June 24, 2020. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.aclukansas.org/en/cases/loud-light-hammet-v-schwab.
9. Bahl, Andrew. “Judge rules Kansas secretary of state didn’t violate open records law in dispute over ballot report.” CJOnline. October 13, 2021. Updated October 14, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2022, https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/10/13/secretary-state-scott-schwab-violated-records-voting-election-law-dismissed-kansas-aclu-loud-light/8444038002/.
10. “Davis Hammet.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/davishammet/.
11. Hammet, Davis. “How I fell in love with Kansas – and spent the next five years trying to change it.” Washington Post. November 27, 2018. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/27/how-i-fell-love-with-kansas-spent-next-five-years-trying-change-it/.
12. “Loud Light 990.” ProPublica. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/810798700/06_2021_prefixes_81-81%2F810798700_201912_990EZ_2021060218240802.
13. Moore, Katie. “Pastor reflects on protest arrest.” CJOnline. May 23, 2018. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/2018/05/23/topeka-pastor-reflects-on-arrest-during-monday-protest/12150042007/.
14. “Loud Light 990.” ProPublica. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/810798700/06_2021_prefixes_81-81%2F810798700_201912_990EZ_2021060218240802.
15. “Loud Light, Inc.” Kansas Health Foundation. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://kansashealth.org/grantees/loud-light-inc/.
16. “Youth and Student Fund.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed January 19, 2022. https://movement.vote/funds/youth-fund/.