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Republican Kansas legislators overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of Senate Bill 4, which rescinds a three-day grace period for mail-in ballots and moves the deadline for such cast ballots to be received by the time polls close on Election Day, on Tuesday.
The grace period allowed mail-in ballots to be counted if they were postmarked by the time polls close on Election Day and received within the next three days. It was passed with bipartisan support in 2017.
Kelly and some voting advocates say the override disenfranchises voters, while others, like GOP Rep. Pat Proctor (R - District 41, Leavenworth County), an advocate of the bill, say the same was true of the three-day grace period.
Davis Hammet, president of Loud Light, is an advocate of the grace period.
"We know that in the last November election, over 2,000 ballots were only counted because of the three-day grace period," he said.
According to the Kansas Secretary of State's Office, 2,110 ballots received after the 2024 general election were counted because they were postmarked by the 7 p.m. Election Day deadline and received within three days.
Kelly said the three-day grace period protected voters like rural Kansans who use mail-in ballots. She also vetoed Senate Bill 209, which attempted to rescind the three-day grace period in 2023, according to Kelly's spokesperson.
"We're talking about disabled voters, elderly voters who can't leave their home," Hammet said.
Around 100 mail-in ballots received during the general election grace period could not be counted because they were not postmarked, and 603 were not counted because they were received after the three-day grace period, according Kansas Secretary of State's Office.
These same issues were present months earlier for Kansas' 2024 primary election.
In a letter addressed to United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Sept. 9, 2024, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab expressed his concern with USPS's "processing and handling of ballots."
"The Postal Service’s failure to deliver as promised has disenfranchised at approximately 1,000 voters in Kansas," Schwab said in the letter. "That means that 2 percent of ballots transmitted by mail in Kansas were not counted due to USPS administrative failures."
These votes, which were mailed before Election Day, were not counted because they were not postmarked or were not received until after the three-day grace period, according to Schwab's letter.
"You know, we promise them if they get their ballot in within three days after the election, we'll count it, but when they show up without a postmark, we're not able to count them," Proctor, who chairs the Elections Committee in the House, said.
Proctor said the primary reason he voted in favor of the bill was the postmark issue. Some other Republicans — Reps. Chris Croft (R - District 8, Johnson County), Dan Hawkins (R - District 100, Sedgwick County), and Blake Carpenter (R - District 81, Sedgwick County) — said in a joint statement Senate Bill 4 "reaffirms Kansans' trust in our elections."
"We know that the ballot was cast before election night if we stop taking them on election night, so they no longer need a postmark," Proctor said.
It's true that in addition to mail-in ballots becoming void due to an absence of postmarks, delayed delivery of correctly mailed ballots also played a role in some Kansans not having their votes counted.
Hammet says rescinding the three-day grace period shortens an already narrow time frame Kansans have to cast their mail-in ballot. It's one of the shortest in the country.
"That's 20 days for the mail to be sent out, to get to the voter, for them to fill it out, for them to return it," Hammet said.
The new election rule will go into effect in 2026.
"I think Kansas voters are smart," Proctor said. "If we tell them what the rules are and we give them time to learn them — 'cause this doesn't go into effect until 2026 — they'll follow the rules, they'll figure it out, and they'll get their ballots in earlier," he said.
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