Saying recent changes in state voter law will disenfranchise “thousands” of residents, three civil rights organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging changes to the state’s advance voting process.
Earlier this session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 4, which ends the three-day grace period for advance mail ballots to return to county clerk offices across the state and still be counted in a given election. Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the Disability Rights Center of Kansas and Loud Light have joined together in filing a 30-page lawsuit, saying SB 4 is a “deliberate and unconstitutional assault on Kansans’ fundamental right to vote.” The organizations also say the law “carelessly disregards the realities of postal delivery delays,” affecting disabled, elderly and rural voters the most, and it comes at a time where more voters are choosing mail for their ballots.
The lawsuit names Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew as defendants. Schwab says this is a legislative matter and SB 4 makes state law consistent to what had been in place before changes were made in 2017. Shew has not commented.
The lawsuit seeks the return of a postmark-based rule for advance mail ballots and actually seeks to extend the grace period from three to seven days, mentioning the state law of vote canvasses needed within 13 days of a given election.
Kansas Appleseed Litigation Director Teresa Woody will join KVOE’s Newsmaker 2 segment at 8:40 am Thursday with more on the lawsuit.
