The Kansas Supreme Court is letting lower court rulings stand when it comes to the state’s 3-day grace period for mail ballots and Tuesday’s primary election date.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who has been seeking to overturn a Douglas County District Court ruling earlier this month to essentially reinstate the 3-day grace period for mail ballots to be postmarked by Election Day — in this case Aug 4 — and then return to county election offices by the following Friday, or Aug 7, to be counted in the election cycle. The high court says the Court of Appeals decision earlier this week follows proper assessment of Schwab’s motion and keeps the district court ruling in place until further action in the court process. The Supreme Court also says the temporary injunction issued right after the mail ballot window began two weeks ago “may not ultimately survive appellate scrutiny, but it is not plainly erroneous.”
Justices Caleb Stegall and KJ Wall dissented, saying the importance of the case should have led to early involvement by the Supreme Court.
The Kansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 4 in the 2025 session. The bill is designed to end the nearly-10-year-long grace period and to make sure all mail ballots were at election offices by the time the polls close at 7 pm on a given Election Day. This is the first cycle for that new policy.
The Lyon County Election Office had already made some changes after the Douglas County ruling in mid-July. No other changes are expected.
