GOP bid to scrap Kansas mail ballot grace period fails again

In a win for voters, the Kansas Court of Appeals Friday denied Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s (R) latest request to revive a GOP-backed law that would throw out mail-in ballots received after Election Day, even if they were cast on time.

The ruling means Kansas election officials must continue counting ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within the following three days, including in the upcoming November elections.

Schwab had already tried to suspend the mail ballot grace period before the August primary.

The appeals court rejected that request in July, and the Kansas Supreme Court later declined to intervene. Schwab renewed his request ahead of the general election, arguing that circumstances had changed because advance voting had not yet begun and the legal issues were now fully briefed.

The court was not persuaded

Even if Schwab ultimately prevails in the broader case, the panel found that his current showing was not strong enough to justify suspending the lower court’s order before the appeal is resolved.

The court focused heavily on what could happen to voters if the grace period disappeared before the general election.

“A Kansas voter may reasonably rely on the temporary injunction—and the rule that governed the August primary—when mailing an advance ballot by Election Day,” the court wrote. “If we were to grant a stay, and that ballot were received in the three-day window after Election Day, the ballot would not be counted.”

And once that vote is lost, the court said, no later ruling could fix it.

“The potential injury to voters, by contrast, is final,” the court wrote. “Leaving the temporary injunction in place minimizes the risk of an injury that could not be corrected after Election Day.”

The dispute centers on Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), the Republican-backed law enacted in 2025 that eliminated Kansas’ three-day grace period and required mail ballots to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A Douglas County judge temporarily blocked the law in July after finding that the challengers were likely to succeed on their constitutional claims.

Friday’s ruling does not decide whether SB 4 is ultimately constitutional. The Court of Appeals said it will schedule oral argument and resolve those questions through the normal appeals process.

For November, however, the immediate result is clear: Kansas’ three-day grace period remains in place.