Which BV-area senators voted to make it harder for your vote to be counted?

The Kansas Senate passed a bill Wed., Feb 5, to eliminate the 3-day grace period for mailed ballots - postmarked on or before Election Day - to reach the election office and be counted.

State Senators Kellie Warren and TJ Rose voted YES - disenfranchising Kansas voters.

Voting AGAINST SB 4 - that is, voting to maintain the mail-ballot grace period - was BV-area Sen. Cindy Holscher. Sen. Holscher recognizes that the bill punishes voters for problems with mail processing and delivery.

College students, military members, people who travel frequently for work, disabled and homebound voters, and those who simply prefer to vote by mail - all risk having their votes NOT count, should SB 4 become law.

As reported in the Sunflower State Journal, “out of 163,405 ballots transmitted by mail, about 1.5%, or 2,110 came in after Election Day within the grace period and were counted.

The secretary of state cautioned that if the grace period was eliminated, Kansas voters temporarily living out of state who do not qualify for federal voting status (college students) may have increased difficulty in returning their mail ballot by Election Day.” 

Election-denier Shawnee-area Sen. Mike Thompson says he sponsored the bill because “You see the ballot numbers change during that three-day grace period as new ballots come in.” 

Link to SB 4 https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb4/ 

Read the entire SSJ article here: https://sunflowerstatejournal.com/senate-passes-bill-eliminating-three-day-voting-grace-period/ 

(SSJ publisher Brad Cooper has permitted us to share article links with our members. We subscribe to SSJ for in-depth reporting on action during the legislative session and much more.)

KC Star coverage: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article298587563.html 

What’s next?

If the Kansas House passes the same legislation, it will go to Gov. Kelly. The legislature passed basically the same bill in 2023, and Gov. Kelly vetoed it, saying military members and rural Kansans would be affected. In 2023, legislators wanting to restrict voting rights didn’t have enough votes to override the Governor’s veto. But this session, both the Kansas House and Senate have a Republican supermajority. If they all vote together, they can override any veto.

Use this link to find your Kansas State Senator and Representative; follow the link to see their voting records and email addresses: https://ksleglookup.org/

Be sure to let them know how you feel about undoing the 3-day grace period that helps ensure military members, college students, and others have their votes counted.