Beginning in 2026, Kansans who vote by mail can expect more doubt about whether the ballots they cast will be counted by election officials.

The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature on Tuesday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill eliminating the three-day grace period for late-arriving mail ballots that lawmakers of both parties overwhelmingly adopted in 2017.

According to local election data, 14% of the 350,000 Johnson County residents who voted last November did so by mail. Voting rights advocates say the measure will disenfranchise voters who have come to rely on the delay-plagued U.S. Postal Service to return their ballots.

“This bill punishes Kansas voters for the basic logistics or troubles of the federal postal service,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

“Let us call this effort what it really is: an attempt to silence Kansans and make fewer Kansans’ votes count.”

The Senate voted 30-10 Tuesday morning to override Kelly’s veto. The House followed suit hours later, voting 84-41. Only five GOP lawmakers in total voted to preserve the grace period. If one more House Republican had broken ranks, Kelly’s veto would have been sustained, since override votes require two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers.

“By shortening the grace period, we’re just saying if you are going to vote by mail, you need to make sure you get it done quickly,” said Sen. Mike Johnson, a Shawnee Republican who carried the override motion in the Senate.

Kansas election officials are allowed to begin sending out mail ballots 20 days before the election, providing a shorter return window than many states. Of the 15 other states and the District of Columbia that allow late-arriving mail votes to count, many have longer grace periods than Kansas, including Washington State, which counts ballots arriving up to three weeks after Election Day.

Mail voters in Kansas who worry the change will disenfranchise them can return their ballots by drop box or at any polling station on Election Day before 7 p.m.

“We’re on a slippery slope and I promise you this is about discrimination,” said Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat. “This is discriminating against those who are disabled, those who may not have a car, those who rely on our mail.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, recalled attending the 2020 Johnson County canvas, where two races were decided by provisional ballots. The canvas is traditionally used when late-arriving mail ballots that have been properly postmarked before Election Day are counted.

“There are some of you in this room that know what it’s like to have to wait until the canvass before it’s decided as to whether you get to be the representative for your district or not,” Woodard addressed his colleagues. “We need to continue counting every Kansan’s vote.”

House election committee chair Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who recently made waves when he was recorded on a conference call expressing his wish that all voting took place on Election Day, said he doesn’t expect the change to disenfranchise anyone.

“I think Kansas voters are smart. I think if we tell them what the rules are, they’ll adjust their behavior to get their ballots in on time,” Proctor said.

The three-day grace period will remain in effect through November’s local elections before changes go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

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