Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday denied emergency motions, leaving in place a lower‑court injunction that permits counting mail ballots received up to three days after Election Day.
The decision preserves the current practice for the upcoming August 4 primary, despite a recent legislative effort to tighten deadlines.
In 2025, the Republican‑controlled Legislature enacted Senate Bill 4, which eliminated the three‑day grace period that had existed since 2017 and required all advance‑vote ballots to be received by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.
The bill was vetoed by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly, but the veto was overridden, restoring the historic Election Day receipt deadline used for roughly 150 years.
Several advocacy groups filed suit, arguing that the strict deadline violates equal‑protection, due‑process, and voting‑rights provisions of the state constitution.
On July 16, after thousands of ballots had already been mailed with instructions to arrive by Election Day, Douglas County District Judge Carl Folsom issued a temporary injunction reinstating the three‑day window.
Secretary of State Scott Schwab appealed the injunction; the Court of Appeals declined to stay it, and Schwab then sought emergency review by the state Supreme Court.
The high court rejected both the request to transfer the appeal and the petition for emergency review, stating it was not addressing the underlying constitutionality of the legislation.
The majority noted that while the temporary injunction might not survive future appellate scrutiny, it was not plainly erroneous to maintain it for now.
Justices Caleb Stegall and K.J. Wall Jr. issued a dissent, warning that the refusal to act raises doubts about election integrity and leaves thousands of ballots in legal limbo.
The dissent emphasized that counting ballots past the statutory deadline could dilute the votes of citizens who complied with the law and called the outcome untenable.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling clarified that federal law does not require mail ballots to be received by Election Day, but it left states free to set their own receipt deadlines.
Kansas lawmakers exercised that authority with Senate Bill 4, only to have the measure temporarily blocked by a district judge on constitutional grounds.
As a result, ballots postmarked by Election Day may continue to be received and counted for three additional days while the final outcome of the primary remains pending.
