Yesterday, March 25th, Governor Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that would have ended the three-day grace period of mail-in ballots. Kelly says “the three-day grace period for mail ballots was a bipartisan solution approved by the legislature in 2017 to address delays in processing of mail by the United States Postal Service, particularly in rural areas. The goal was to ensure that all Kansans had their votes counted, no matter where they lived. She adds that not only will removing the three-day grace period for mail ballots disenfranchise thousands of Kansas voters, but it also shows a lack of understanding of our elections in Kansas. Implementing this will create confusion among county election officials, who will have to update policies and procedures on handling of mail ballots in a higher turnout election year. She called the bill an attack on rural Kansans who want to participate in the election process guaranteed by the Constitution.
As of now, people who receive an advance ballot and choose to return it by mail must have it postmarked by 7 p.m. election night, when polls close. It then must arrive within the next three days. Under Senate Bill 4, all mail-in ballots would have to be collected by county election clerks no later than 7p.m. on election night to be counted.
