BY: SHERMAN SMITH
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday vetoed legislation that would eliminate a three-day grace period for advance mail-in ballots to arrive after Election Day.
The proposal would result in thousands of ballots from lawfully registered voters being thrown in the trash during high-turnout elections.
Under current law, ballots are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Friday. Senate Bill 4 would require ballots to be returned instead by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
“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,” Kelly said. “Implementing this will create confusion among county election officials.”
House Republican leadership promised to override the governor’s “reckless” veto.
“We eagerly anticipate overriding the governor’s misguided veto to safeguard our elections and ensure quick, reliable outcomes,” the House GOP leaders said in a joint statement. “By setting a firm Election Day deadline, we reaffirm Kansans’ trust in our elections.”
Republican claims about “reliable outcomes” being available on the night of the election are rooted in widespread lies about the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in a safe and secure election.
Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who chairs the election committee, told Republicans in a private meeting in February 2024 that he intended to end the three-day grace period because he doesn’t support advance voting and because he wanted to punish Democrats and advocacy groups who wouldn’t accept a compromise he had offered.
“I had a deal, and then Loud Light and Appleseed, which are the kind of bomb throwers in the election debate, they blew it up,” Proctor said in a leaked video clip. “And I told all of them — and you know, please don’t put this on Facebook or in the news — I told them all, this is your year for a deal. You can either negotiate and we can get a deal, or next year I’m ramming the thing through the way I want it to look.”
“If it was up to me, Election Day would be Election Day,” Proctor added. “There wouldn’t be early voting. Mail-in ballots would only be for military or severely disabled. But I got to bring 84 people with me, so I’m trying to chip away at it.”
The House passed SB 4 80-39 on Feb. 27 and the Senate passed it 30-10 on March 6.
In her veto message, the governor said the bill is an attack on rural Kansans who are more vulnerable to delays in processing of mail.
“I will not sign legislation that deprives Kansans from having their vote counted,” Kelly said.
Loud Light advocacy director Melissa Stiehler said the three-day grace period is “a common sense solution” to ongoing mail delays. She also said the bill to repeal it “was born from the conspiracy theories during the 2020 election.”
“The reality is that the only thing this bill does is throw out our Kansans votes for no good reason,” Stiehler said. “We are thankful that the governor stood up for democracy today and encourage the Legislature to do the same by voting to sustain the veto.”
The Legislature could vote at any time this week to override the governor’s veto, which would require support from two-thirds of the members of both the House and Senate.