Lawsuit claims new Kansas law ending grace period for mail-in ballots is unconstitutional

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Voting rights groups have filed a lawsuit over a new law dealing with mail-in ballots. Senate Bill 4 requires all mail-in ballots to be returned to the election office by 7 p.m. on election day, starting January 1, 2026.

The law eliminates the three-day grace period, a measure that Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Inc., Loud Light and Disability Rights Center of Kansas are challenging, asking a judge to reinstate the mail voting grace period.

The 30-page lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court claims the law passed is unconstitutional. The civic groups are also asking the court to order election officials to count postmarked mail ballots received within seven days of election day.

The axis of ballot harvesting strikes again! Loudlight, Appleseed, and their allies hide behind their supposed nonpartisan, nonprofit status to rake in millions from George Soros and foreign billionaires that they use to sue every common sense measure we pass to restore…
— Pat Proctor (@RealPatProctor) May 6, 2025

Representative Pat Proctor, a Republican legislator from Leavenworth, supported ending the three-day grace period. He posted a message on “X” following the announcement of the lawsuit, calling the civic groups “the axis of ballot harvesting,” who “sue every common sense measure we pass to restore confidence in the elections.”

He said the three-day grace period has disenfranchised thousands of rural voters since it passed in 2017. That year, the measure passed with bipartisan support to prevent voters from being disenfranchised due to postal delays. The civic groups argue that postal delays have only worsened.