帕特·普克尔此前一直代表堪萨斯州第41选区。如今，这位共和党人正在竞选州务卿，并将面对民主党挑战者珍妮弗·戴尔。在11月3日选举到来之前，普克尔接受了Hm的独家专访，谈及他对选举廉洁度的看法，以及这位议员面临的许多被报道的争议。
Pat Proctor has been representing Kansas District 41. Now, the Republican is running for Secretary of State, and will face Democrat challenger Jennifer Day. Ahead of the November 3 elections, Proctor spoke exclusively to Hm about his views on election integrity, and the many reported controversies on the lawmaker.
选举廉洁度长期以来一直萦绕在普克尔的心头。他解释说，他的兴趣始于他作为议员被任命到选举委员会的时候。他回忆起特定的一天，当时他正在了解选举事务，而那一天恰好是2021年1月6日。这位共和党候选人对Hm表示，华盛顿特区发生的事件更加坚定了他的信念，即恢复公众对选举的信任是当务之急。
Election integrity has been on Proctor's mind for a long time, as he explained that his interest started from the time he was put on the elections committee as a lawmaker. He recalled one specific day where he was learning about elections, and that day turned out to be January 6, 2021. The events in Washington DC convinced Proctor even more that restoring public faith in elections was the need of the hour, the GOP candidate told Hm.A lot of it has to do with Proctor's military experience, the politician explained.
这位政治人物解释说，这在很大程度上与普克尔的军事经历有关。普克尔是一名退役美国陆军上校，曾在伊拉克和阿富汗等地服役。据普克尔回忆，在他服役的这些地方，问题在于人们“不相信通过投票箱能解决他们的问题”，而这位前军人并不希望美国出现这种局面。
Proctor, a retired US army colonel, has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places. According to Proctor the problem in these places, where he served, was that people didn't ‘believe in the ballot box to solve their problems’ and it's not a situation the former military man wanted for the US.
吉姆·麦克马伦将矛头指向堪萨斯州学校的给分膨胀和班级排名变动：称其为“疯狂”普克尔指出，他在担任议员期间后来成为了选举委员会主席。随着斯科特·施瓦布竞选州长，普克尔现在正竞选州务卿。普克尔在解释他竞选该职位的动机时表示：“我觉得非常重要的是，我们的办公室里必须有一位专心致志、真正了解选举、并且专注于恢复信心和凝聚人心的人。”
Jim McMullen takes aim at grade inflation, class rank changes in Kansas schools: 'Crazy'Proctor noted that he went on to become the chairman of the elections committee, while he was in legislature. With Scott Schwab running for Governor, Proctor is now running for the Secretary of State. “I felt like it was very important that we have somebody in that office who is focused, really understands elections, and is focused on restoring confidence and bringing people back,” Proctor said explaining his motivation behind running for the post.
然而，普克尔的竞选之路并非没有争议。帕特·普克尔回应争议《堪萨斯镜报》在2026年2月的一篇评论文章中指出，普克尔曾被指控试图创造有利于共和党候选人的条件。
However, Proctor's path is not without its set of controversies. Pat Proctor responds to controversiesThe Kansas Reflector in a February 2026 opinion piece noted that Proctor had been accused of trying to create conditions that favor GOP candidates.
该刊物2026年3月的一篇文章指出，普罗克特在提到乔治·索罗斯时曾使用反犹太言论。普罗克特毫不在意，联合美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）和妇女选民联盟抨击该报，称它们为“收割选票轴心”。他重复指控《堪萨斯反射报》接受了包括乔治·索罗斯在内的资金。该刊物已明确声明，既没有直接也没有间接接受过索罗斯的任何资助。
Another article by the publication from March 2026 noted that Proctor had used antisemitic remarks when referring to George Soros. Proctor, unperturbed, clubbed the newspaper with the ACLU and League of Women Voters, dubbing them ‘the axis of ballot harvesting’. He repeated the allegation that The Kansas Reflector received funds from George Soros, among others. The publication has clearly stated that it neither directly nor indirectly received any funding from Soros.
值得注意的是，普罗克特曾要求总检察长科巴赫调查妇女选民联盟向登记投票的学生发放星巴克礼品卡一事。总检察长随即责令其停止。当被问及时，普罗克特表示，这种等价交易关系无异于贿赂。然而，这位共和党人认为，特朗普承诺如果其党派在中期选举中获胜将发放的5000美元支票则截然不同。
Notably, Proctor had asked AG Kobach to investigate the League of Women Voters over handing out Starbucks gift cards to students registering to vote. The AG accordingly directed them to stop, When asked, Proctor said a quid pro quo relation like this was tantamount to bribery. However, the Republican opined that the $5000 cheques Trump has promised if their party wins the midterms is significantly different.
普罗克特还表达了担忧，认为如果由民主党籍州务卿掌权，可能会出现不受限制的非公民投票和邮寄选票，并指向科罗拉多州和密歇根州。“那些曾经是红州，后来有了民主党籍州务卿，他们彻底拆解了选举制度，所以我参选是为了阻止这种情况在堪萨斯州发生，”普罗克特宣称。
Proctor also expressed fears that with a Democrat Secretary of State there might be unchecked non citizen voting and mail in ballots, pointing to Colorado and Michigan. “Those used to be red states, then they got a Democrat Secretary of State and they totally dismantled their election systems, so I am running to stop that in Kansas,” Proctor declared.
帕特·普罗克特的选举诚信观普罗克特对非公民投票表达了担忧。《堪萨斯城星报》2026年10月报道，总检察长克里斯·科巴赫和州务卿斯科特·施瓦布的协调行动发现了四起可起诉的非公民投票案件，以及“15起以上”因减轻情节未提起诉讼的案件。然而，根据普罗克特的说法，问题出在宪法的措辞本身上。
Pat Proctor's views on election integrityProctor expressed concerns about non citizen voting. The Kansas City Star reported in October 2026 that a coordinated effort by Attorney General Kris Kobach and Secretary of State Scott Schwab found four prosecutable cases of non-citizen voting, and ‘over 15 cases’ which did not lead to prosecutions due to mitigating factors. However, as per Proctor the issue is with the very wording of the constitution.
“宪法规定每一位公民都可以投票……在加利福尼亚州、佛蒙特州和马里兰州，宪法中有完全相同的措辞，它们允许非公民投票，”普罗克特说。修改该措辞的宪法修正案由普罗克特发起，将于11月再次提交选民表决，此前该修正案在8月被否决。这位共和党人希望将措辞改为“只有公民”，而不是“每一位公民”，他认为宪法预设必须先是公民，才能满足投票资格。
“It said every citizen can vote…in the state of California, Vermont, and Maryland they have the exact same language in the constitution and they allow non-citizens to vote,” Proctor said. The amendment to change the language has been sponsored by Proctor and is up for ballot again in November, after it was shot down in August. The Republican wants the language changed to ‘only citizens’ instead of ‘every citizen’ arguing that the constitution assumes you'd have to be a citizen first to fulfil the criteria to vote.“I've been accused of being racist, and anti-immigrant for passing this law and for fighting this,” Proctor noted.
“因为推动这项法律和为此奋斗，我被指责为种族主义者、反移民者，”普罗克特指出。随后他以妻子阿里为例，称她来自泰国，经历了必要的程序成为美国公民。“在我看来，在这个国家，我们允许任何人走进来就开始行使政治权力，无论他们是否是公民，这是一种侮辱……我认为这是对每一位归化公民的耳光，”普罗克特说道。
He then shared the example of his wife, Aree, who he said came from Thailand and passed through the necessary hoops to become an American citizen. “It is to me insulting that in this country we would just allow anybody to walk in and start wielding political power, whether they are citizens or not…I think it's a slap in the face of every naturalized citizen,” Proctor stated.
针对政治对手，普罗克特说，戴曾告诉人们，非公民不能在该州投票是件遗憾事。值得注意的是，作为挑战州务卿职位的民主党候选人，戴也曾表示选举安全是她的重点关注领域之一。
Taking shots at his political opponent, Proctor said that Day told people it's unfortunate non-citizens cannot vote in the state. Notably, Day has also stated election security is one of her key focus areas as the Democrat challenger to the Secretary of State seat.
这位共和党人进一步强调了已故者仍在选民名册上、需要持续更新名册等问题，并表达了对选举被窃取的担忧。当被问及是否相信2020年大选被窃取——这是唐纳德·特朗普总统常重复的说法——时，普罗克特回答：“我确信2020年大选在堪萨斯州的结果反映了堪萨斯州选民的意愿。”
The Republican further highlighted issues like dead people being on the voter roll and the need for constant updating, while expressing fears about election theft. When asked about if he believed the 2020 elections were stolen, an often-repeated statement by President Donald Trump, Proctor replied “I am convinced that the results of the elections in 2020, in the state of Kansas reflected the will of Kansas voters.”
他接着说，他试图推动通过的许多法律，都遭到了质疑，理由是没有证据表明选举系统存在错误。
He went on to explain that a lot of laws he tried to get passed, was met with skepticism of there being no evidence errors with the election system.
普罗克托结合自己的从军经历表示，他的工作是防止发生失误，而不是在失误发生后做出反应，他以此为自己的选举诚信立场进行了辩护。如果成为国务卿，帕特·普罗克托想要什么如果他担任国务卿，普罗克托希望驾驶证上标明持证人是否为公民。他还指出，简化核查哪些选民已经去世以更新选民名册的流程，是他希望看到的事情。这位共和党人提出了一个不同寻常的建议，即与信用评级机构共享选民名册，以便他们能够标出那些已经去世的人。
Drawing on his military past, Proctor said his job was to prevent a mishap, and not react to it, defending his stance on election integrity. What Pat Proctor wants if he were Secretary of StateIf he were Secretary of State, Proctor would like to see drivers' licenses state whether one is a citizen or not. He also noted that streamlining processes to find out which voters had passed away, to update the voter rolls, was something Proctor would like to see. In an unconventional move, the Republican proposed sharing voter rolls with credit rating agencies so they could mark out those who'd passed away.
普罗克托还指出，如果他担任国务卿，他希望对商业部门做出多项变革。他的核心原则是，政府的职责是告知人们其期望企业主遵守的法律。普罗克托勾勒出了一个人工智能辅助网站的愿景，该网站将告诉企业他们需要填写哪些表格，并提供相应的可点击链接。这位共和党候选人还建议，如果由于某种网站端的故障导致企业主没有看到某个表格，那么政府就不应对此进行罚款。
Proctor also noted a list of changes to the business division he'd like to see as Secretary of the State. His core principle is that the government's duty is to inform people of the laws they expect business owners to adhere to. Proctor laid out a vision of an AI-assisted site that would tell businesses which forms they needed to fill out and have a clickable link for the same. The GOP candidate also proposed that due to some site-end glitch if a form did not show up for the business-owner, then the government should not put a fine on that.
普罗克托在此背景下提到了他的连锁餐厅——泰国餐厅股份有限公司。他谈到了支付高于最低工资的报酬，但按月支付而不是按小时发放。此前有报道称，他因未能遵守联邦工资和加班法而被罚款9.3万美元。
Proctor mentioned his restaurant chain, Baan Thai Restaurant Inc, in this context. He spoke about paying more than minimum wage, but dispersing payments on a monthly basis, rather than hourly. This came amid reports of him being fined $93,000 for failing to comply with federal wage and overtime laws.
在结束讲话前，普罗克托向选民分享了一条信息：“让你成为美国一部分的是，你宣誓效忠某些原则；你宣誓我们都在法律面前人人平等……但我们又是如此不同，这在以前从未行得通过。之所以行得通，是因为我们的开国元勋找到了秘诀——一种社会契约——即每隔几年我们将聚在一起，决定谁来掌权。如果你不喜欢这样，你可以在几年后回来选择其他人。”
Beforeg off, Proctor shared a message with his voters. “What makes you a part of the US is that you swear to certain principles; you swear that we are all equal under the law…but we are all so different, and that's never worked before. The reason it works is because our founders found the secret sauce – a social contract – that every couple of years we are going to get together and decide who's in charge. And if you don't like that, you can come back in a couple of years and choose somebody else. If we lose faith in that, or confidence in that as a nation, we are not going to have another 250 years. We won't have another 50 years,” Proctor said.
“如果我们作为一个国家失去了对它的信念，或是失去了对它的信心，我们就不会再有250年了。我们甚至不会再有50年了，”普罗克特说。他提到了查理·柯克枪击案和白宫记者协会晚宴上针对特朗普的刺杀未遂案为例，指出人们正转向枪支而非选举制度来寻求解决之道。普罗克特将自己定位为抵御美国这种腐蚀的捍卫者。
He brought up examples of the Charlie Kirk shooting and the attempt on Trump's life at the WHCA dinner, saying that people were turning to guns rather than the electoral system to find a solution. Proctor placed himself as a defender against this corrosion in the US.