Kansas’ mail-ballot grace period is still alive heading into next Tuesday’s primary, after an appeals-court fight failed to put a stricter same-day deadline back in place. Ballots postmarked by Election Day can, for now, still be counted if they reach county election offices within three days.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals rejected Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s request to pause Douglas County District Judge Carl Folsom’s injunction. The Kansas Supreme Court also declined Schwab’s requests to bypass the normal appeals process and immediately take up the dispute, according to the Kansas City Star. The orders leave the grace period intact while the lawsuit moves forward; they do not finally decide whether Senate Bill 4 violates the Kansas Constitution.
The emergency fight came with election machinery already moving. In a release, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office said more than 44,000 ballots had already been sent when Folsom restored the three-day window, while Schwab argued voters had received instructions saying there was no grace period and Attorney General Kris Kobach called the injunction disruptive.
Senate Bill 4 was intended to replace Kansas’ post-election receipt window with a hard deadline. The Kansas Legislative Research Department said the law changed the deadline, beginning January 1, from the third day after an election to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Why The Mail-Ballot Fight Reached Court
Kansas Appleseed, Loud Light, the Disability Rights Center of Kansas and three voters sued over SB 4, arguing that postal delays outside a voter’s control could arbitrarily strip away valid ballots. KCUR’s report said Folsom found the plaintiffs likely to prevail on constitutional claims and noted that more than 2,100 ballots received during the three-day window in 2024 could have been rejected under the new law.
What The Court’s Order Means For Kansas Voters
The latest rulings preserve the old deadline for the upcoming election but do not settle the constitutional case. The Kansas City Star reported that the appellate courts cited the risk of voter confusion and procedural concerns, while Justice Eric Rosen described the state Supreme Court’s restraint as “institutional humility.”
The Kansas dispute also arrives after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that federal election statutes do not require every mail ballot to be physically received by Election Day. The Associated Press reported that the decision preserved grace periods in states that count ballots postmarked by Election Day and received later, a national fight Hoodline previously outlined. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey, more than 585,000 mail ballots entered the cure process nationwide, and more than half were successfully cured.
For now, Kansas voters remain under the court-restored rule: a mail ballot must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within the three-day period to qualify. The state’s larger legal battle over whether lawmakers can eliminate that cushion will continue after the primary.
