23 February 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – A bill dealing with advanced voting ballots successfully passed the Kansas House Thursday morning.
Kansas state representatives met on Thursday to discuss House Bill 2056 which, if passed into law, would change the deadline for all advance voting ballots to be received by the county election officer to 7 p.m. on the night of the election instead of the third day following the election.
This would impact advance voting ballots sent by mail to the office of the county election officer, the satellite election office, any polling place or a county-maintained drop box. HB 2056 was passed favorably at 77-45.
Advance ballots made up a considerable number of votes in previous Kansas elections. In the 2018 mid-terms, 193,627 advance-by-mail ballots were submitted while 507,405 were sent in for the 2020 general election.
The Kansas Senate also failed to pass another bill on voting measures. Senate Bill 210, which would have allowed candidates for nonpartisan offices to have their party affiliation provided on the ballot alongside their names, was voted at 16-24.