The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, says a proposed bill that would eliminate the 3 day mail processing window for mail-in ballots, would silence thousands of rural, disabled, and elderly Kansas voters. They are calling on extremist lawmakers to abandon their early legislative attempt to weaken Kansans’ voices by punishing Kansans who have no control over the processing speed of the Federal Postal Service.
The ACLU says during the 2024 general election they received numerous phone, email, and online inquiries from Kansas voters concerned about whether their votes would count or had been counted. They say the legislature knows that mail take a few days to be processed, especially in more rural parts of the state that have fewer postal workers and where mail is sometimes sent out-of-state to be processed before returning to Kansas. Thy say getting rid of the mail processing window and tossing out votes from eligible citizens who did everything right ignores the fundamental aspect of administering elections that election officials, election workers, and post office workers need time to do their jobs.
