For more than 160 years, mail-in voting has been a fixture of American democracy — especially in Kansas. During the Civil War, Union soldiers stationed far from home were granted the right to vote by mail, a practice that laid the foundation for absentee voting as we know it.
Kansas, in fact, was among the earliest adopters of mail-in voting for non-military, allowing railroad workers to vote absentee as early as 1901.
Today, however, that legacy is under pressure. Starting in 2026, Kansas voters will face one of the shortest mail-in voting windows in the country.
A new law, passed by the Republican-majority legislature, eliminated the three-day grace period that previously allowed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrived shortly after.
Now, all mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be valid.
Supporters of the change argue it will increase confidence in election results by ensuring a uniform deadline. Critics, however, see it as a step backward — one that risks disenfranchising rural voters, seniors, and college students who rely on the mail to participate in elections.
The grace period, enacted in 2017, was a bipartisan response to slow postal delivery, especially in rural areas.
Data from the Kansas Secretary of State’s office shows that in the 2024 election, about 2,800 ballots arrived after Election Day.
Of those, only about 75% of those were counted, with the remainder rejected due to missing postmarks or arriving beyond the grace period deadline.
The impact was even more pronounced in the 2024 primary, when approximately 1,000 Kansans (2% of voters) were effectively disenfranchised.
Their ballots, mailed on time, failed to reach election offices by the cutoff and were discarded, despite voters having followed the rules.
At first glance, 2% might seem insignificant, but it’s more than enough to sway an election. In fact, it is far larger than the margin of victory in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary and comes close to the margin in the 2022 general election for governor.
These numbers underscore the real-world consequences of tightening mail-in voting rules, especially for voters who do everything right but are let down by slow delivery.
Yet despite these setbacks, the push to restrict mail-in voting continues to gain traction nationally, often driven by voices that have repeatedly cast doubt on democratic institutions — frequently under the guise of protecting election integrity.
President Trump recently vowed to “lead a movement” to end mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterms, describing them as “corrupt” and alleging “massive fraud” — despite lack of evidence to support these claims.
These remarks echo long-standing skepticism towards mail voting, even as courts, election officials, and independent experts continue to affirm security and reliability.
