Kansas appeals court keeps mail-ballot grace period in place for Aug. 4 primary
The ruling ensures ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted if they arrive within three days, just as the deadline to request a mail ballot arrives Tuesday.
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Sign up freeTOPEKA, Kan. — Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day will continue to be counted in Kansas' Aug. 4 primary if they arrive within three days, following a Monday, July 27, ruling by the Kansas Court of Appeals. The appellate court denied an emergency request by Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab to pause a lower-court injunction that had temporarily blocked a 2025 law repealing the grace period.
Judges reasoned that altering election rules after voting had already begun could disenfranchise Kansans who relied on the existing guidelines, and that this risk outweighed the administrative burden on election officials counting late-arriving ballots. The decision arrived just one day before Tuesday's deadline, July 28, for voters to apply for a mail ballot.
The legal battle stems from a lawsuit filed against the 2025 repeal legislation, Senate Bill 4, by the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, Kansas Appleseed, Loud Light and three individual voters. Douglas County District Judge Carl Folsom issued the initial injunction preserving the three-day window on July 16.
Schwab and Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach argue that a strict Election Day receipt deadline provides a uniform cutoff across all counties. They still have a request pending before the Kansas Supreme Court to take up the case, and Schwab warned voters as recently as Saturday, July 25, not to assume the grace period would survive the appeals process.
For now, the rule will govern thousands of ballots in an upcoming primary that features contested races for governor and the U.S. Senate, along with a proposed constitutional amendment altering how state Supreme Court justices are selected.
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