Once a bipartisan safeguard against postal delays and slow mail processing times, Kansas’ three-day mail ballot grace period is now gone — axed by lawmakers, challenged in court, and mirrored in a growing number of Republican-led states. Following the 2020 election, former President Trump promoted false claims of widespread voter fraud, targeting states that allowed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted after polls closed, many under temporary pandemic-era policies. Trump and his allies seized on mail delays and extended deadlines to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the results.
A law passed nearly unanimously by the Kansas Legislature in 2017 granted a three-day grace period for legally postmarked mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day, responding to concerns that U.S. Postal Service delays were causing some ballots, especially from rural areas, to arrive late and go uncounted.
Since the 2020 election, however, some Kansas lawmakers have leaned into unfounded voter fraud claims to justify changes to election law and signal to constituents that they’re taking action, said Chloe Chaffin, fellowship manager at Loud Light. “Because of the big lie, all of a sudden, state legislators that want to show their constituents that they’re responsive and taking action, they will likely use it as an easy scapegoat essentially just to chip away at legal votes.” Chaffin said.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, 2,110 properly postmarked ballots that were counted in 2024 would have been thrown out under the new law eliminating the grace period….