Takeaways:
- Only 19.7% of Kansans surveyed strongly agreed that the winner of statewide elections actually won.
- Bills, such as some requiring mail-in ballots to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day and making all drop box ballots provisional, face strong opposition.
- Despite negligible instances of voter fraud, some lawmakers continue to advocate for stringent election measures.
Some bills moving through the Kansas Legislature could overhaul the way the state runs elections, including some slammed by opponents as “pure voter suppression.”
They target drop boxes and mail ballots, and some were killed in recent legislative sessions. But past lawmaking defeats won’t stop the Republicans who dominate the Statehouse and say confidence in voting is dropping.
One bill would limit who can send out advance ballot applications. Another would require every advance ballot to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day. That bill eliminates the current three-day grace period that allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to still count if they don’t arrive too late. A similar bill was vetoed last year.