(Will be updated as warranted)
National Republicans are seeking to defend a state law repealing a three-day grace period for mail ballots to arrive at election offices after Election Day.
The Republican National Committee has filed a brief asking to join in defense of a law that reverses a statute that allowed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be accepted for three days after the election.
The RNC contends that the fight over the Kansas law is part of what it says is a broader “fight to safeguard commonsense election laws and uphold integrity in elections.”
“Far-Left activists are trying to rewrite Kansas law and sow chaos by forcing the state to count ballots that arrive up to a week after Election Day. That’s not how fair and transparent elections work,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement.
“The RNC is stepping in to defend the commonsense protection that all ballots must be received by Election Day to ensure timely, secure elections. We are leading the charge nationwide to uphold election safeguards and defend the integrity of every vote.”
Three groups – Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Loud Light and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas – filed a lawsuit in May, arguing that repealing the grace period was unconstitutional and disenfranchised Kansas voters.
They said repealing the grace period would make it “virtually impossible for many voters” to cast a ballot by mail in an election.
They want the law repealing the grace period blocked.
They want election officials ordered to count all ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days after the election — “the time Kansas’s own election officials expect it will take a ballot to reach its office.”
“The RNC is cynically politicizing what should be a basic protection for all eligible voters: the ability to have their vote counted even if it arrives a day or two late due to postal service delays outside of that voters’ control,” said Teresa Woody, who represents Kansas Appleseed.
“The RNC’s misleading rhetoric on this issue ignores the history of bipartisan support in Kansas for the mail ballot grace period, and the reality of unreliable postal service that affects Kansans regardless of political affiliation, especially in rural communities,” she said.
The Republican-led Legislature voted last session to repeal the grace period over the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The governor’s veto was overridden 30-10 in the Senate and 84-41 in the House.
The RNC argues in its brief that it should be allowed to intervene in the case because it has an interest in ensuring that “Kansas elections are conducted in a safe and secure manner and in accordance with law.”
It notes that Kansas will have a Republican on the 2026 midterm election ballot for Kansas’ seat in the U.S. Senate and for each of Kansas’ four House seats.
Additionally, Kansas will hold an election for governor in November 2026, and numerous state legislative seats will be up for election with Republicans running in many of them.
“In short, the RNC has strong interests — its own and those of its members — in how Kansas elections are structured and ballots are counted,” the RNC argues.
The RNC contends that a decision in the plaintiffs’ favor could lead to an injunction barring the implementation of provisions that the GOP argues are beneficial to its members’ ability to compete in federal elections.
“Sudden, court-ordered changes to Kansas’s election deadlines affect the electoral prospects of Republican candidates and will require the Republican Party to adjust its electoral strategy for upcoming state and federal elections,” the national GOP contends in its brief.
The lawsuit, filed in Douglas County District Court, argued that repealing the grace period infringes on voters’ rights to equal protection, due process and suffrage afforded by the Kansas Constitution.
The old law, enacted in 2017, allowed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be accepted for three days after the election.
The lawsuit said the legislation eliminating the grace period will make successfully voting by mail “virtually impossible for many voters.”
“Even for those voters who request their ballots well in advance, if delays outside their control arise at any stage of the process — and mail delays are only becoming more frequent — their ballot will be rejected, regardless of when it was sent,” the lawsuit said.
“Whether any particular Kansan’s vote counts will now likely depend on their geographic location and the arbitrary speed” with which the U.S. Postal Service delivers the ballot.
The lawsuit said that eliminating the grace period makes Kansas an outlier.
The lawsuit said that only one other state – Iowa – has an Election Day ballot receipt deadline and waits as long as Kansas does to send ballots to voters.
With the elimination of the three-day grace period, the lawsuit said Kansas’ 20-day turn-around time for voting by mail is tied with Iowa as the shortest in the nation.
During the 2020 general election, the secretary of state’s office reported that more than 32,000 ballots arrived at county election offices during the three days after Election Day and were counted as a result.
Locally, the RNC is represented by a law firm founded by Todd Graves, the brother of Missouri Congressman Sam Graves and a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
He served as chairman of the Missouri Republican Party in 2016.
Graves was twice elected Platte County prosecuting attorney, in 1994 and 1998.
Graves represented a tea party group that sued the IRS for its scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
He also represented the Wisconsin Club for Growth when it sued to block a state agency’s investigation of allegations that the club illegally coordinated its activities with Gov. Scott Walker during an effort to recall the governor.
The plaintiffs are represented in part by the Elias Law Group, a Democratically affiliated law firm that specializes in election law and has been involved in other cases in Kansas, including congressional redistricting and a new ban on foreign donations to campaigns on constitutional amendments.
