Welcome to the Friday, July 31, 2026, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Kansas voters to decide whether to become the 22nd state to elect supreme court members or keep unique bar-controlled commission
- Kansas three-day grace period for mail ballots temporarily reinstated ahead of primary
- 18 statewide candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks
Kansas voters to decide whether to become the 22nd state to elect supreme court members or keep unique bar-controlled commission
When Kansas voters head to the polls for the state’s Aug. 4 primary, they will also decide whether to join 21 other states in electing its supreme court justices. Currently, Kansas is the only state that uses a nominating commission in which the state bar association appoints the majority of the members.
The Kansas Elections for Supreme Court Justices Amendment would abolish the existing Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission and require staggered direct elections of the justices. It would also authorize the Kansas Legislature to develop rules regarding the elections, including whether the elections would be partisan or nonpartisan. Justices' terms would remain the same at six years, and vacancies would be filled via an election.
The amendment would also repeal a provision prohibiting Kansas Supreme Court justices from holding any office in a political party or organization, as well as from directly or indirectly making contributions to, or taking part in, political campaigns. This prohibition would still apply to lower court judges holding nonpartisan offices, except when such a judge is running for a seat on an appellate court.
Currently, Kansas’ seven justices are selected through assisted appointment and must stand for retention at the next even-year general election following their appointment and every six years afterward. Under the current system, the nine-member nominating commission recommends candidates to the governor. Members of the bar elect five commission members, all of whom are attorneys. The governor appoints the other four members, who are nonattorneys.
The selection of state supreme court justices varies by state. Thirteen states hold nonpartisan elections, and eight states hold partisan ones. In five states, the governor appoints justices, and in two states, state legislators elect them. Twenty-one states use an assisted appointment method, in which a judicial nominating commission and the governor work in tandem to pick a nominee. Michigan uses a process that combines nonpartisan general elections preceded by a partisan candidate selection process.
The Legislature placed the amendment on the ballot when they approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611 (SCR 1611) in March 2025. The state Senate passed SCR 1611 in a vote of 27-13, with 27 Republicans voting yes and four Republicans and nine Democrats voting no. The state House passed SCR 1611 in a vote of 84-40, with 84 Republicans voting yes and four Republicans and 36 Democrats voting no.
The amendment's supporters say the existing system has produced judicial decisions that are out of step with the preferences of most Kansas voters.
The amendment’s opponents say that Republican legislators want to change how justices are selected because they disliked the outcome of several cases related to abortion and education.
Among the cases supporters and opponents refer to is a 6-1 Kansas Supreme Court decision in 2019 that ruled Section 1 of the Kansas Bill of Rights "affords protection of the right of personal autonomy, which includes the ability to control one's own body, to assert bodily integrity, and to exercise self-determination. This right allows a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life—decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy." The case concerned Senate Bill 95, which prohibited the abortion method of dilation and extraction except to preserve the life of the mother.
In 2022, the Legislature put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would have said that nothing in the state constitution creates a right to abortion or requires government funding for abortion and that the Legislature has the authority to pass laws regarding abortion. It would have effectively nullified the 2019 decision. Voters defeated the amendment 59%-41%.
Click here to read more about Kansas’ state supreme court selection amendment.
Kansas three-day grace period for mail ballots temporarily reinstated ahead of primary
On July 16, a Kansas district judge ordered the temporary reinstatement of a policy allowing advance mail ballots to be accepted if the ballots are postmarked by election day and are received within three days of the election, blocking a 2025 law that changed the deadline for ballots to be received to 7:00 p.m. on election day while litigation continues.
The same day, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R) appealed the decision to the Kansas Court of Appeals and, on July 20, asked the court to keep the 2025 law in place in the meantime. On July 27, the court of appeals denied Schwab's request to reinstate the election day deadline ahead of the state's Aug. 4 primary.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) and Schwab's attorneys appealed that decision to the Kansas Supreme Court on July 28. Kobach previously filed an emergency motion to transfer the case to the Supreme Court on July 20.
Absent further court rulings, the three-day grace period will remain in place for the Aug. 4 primary election. County election officials have asked voters to mail back their advance ballots early enough to ensure they arrive by the close of polls on election day.
In March 2025, Kansas' Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's (D) veto of Senate Bill 4, which eliminated the state's previous three-day grace period for ballots postmarked by election day and required all advance ballots to arrive by 7:00 p.m. on election day in order to be counted.
Kansas Appleseed, Loud Light, and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas filed a lawsuit in May 2025 challenging SB 4. In their complaint, the groups alleged that the change in deadline would harm their "rights to equal protection, due process, and suffrage under the Kansas Constitution."
In his July 16 ruling, Douglas County District Court Judge Carl Folsom III agreed to temporarily block SB 4, writing that there was a "substantial likelihood that SB 4 will result in arbitrary treatment of voters because ballots will be rejected due to postal delays outside the voters’ control." Folsom also cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Mississippi's post-election grace period in responding to an argument that federal law requires ballots to be received by election day.
Following Folsom's ruling, Kobach said that "over 44,000 Kansas voters have received or are about to receive, probably in today’s mail, their advance ballot. ... And it’s accompanied by a note saying 'You have to get this in by Election Day.' ... We would like the higher courts to intervene as soon as possible and give clarity and presumably restore Kansas law."
In denying the state's request to block Folsom's ruling, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sarah Warner wrote, "This court finds that the potential for irreparable harm of voter confusion weighs against the requested stay. ... This very real and irreparable harm—that the votes of well-meaning Kansans, acting in good faith based on a judicial decision, would not be counted—outweighs the administrative burden of counting the mail-in ballots received within three days after Election Day."
Nationally, 14 states allow all valid absentee/mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within a set period of time after the election. Thirty-six states require ballots to arrive on or before Election Day in order to be counted.
Click here to read more about absentee ballot return deadlines.
18 statewide candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks
August is a busy month for unaffiliated, write-in, and judicial retention candidates intending to run in the November election. Eighteen states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands have statewide candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks.
The map and table below show which states have candidate filing deadlines scheduled between Aug. 1 and Aug. 14.
Candidates must meet various state-specific filing requirements and deadlines to appear on primary and general election ballots. These regulations, known as ballot access laws, determine whether and how candidates can make it onto the ballot. These laws are set at the state level and apply to candidates running for state and federal offices.
Voter participation deadlines
Three states have early voting periods that start in the next two weeks:
- Alaska : Early voting begins Aug. 3 for the Aug. 18 primary.
- Connecticut : Early voting begins Aug. 3 for the Aug. 11 primary.
- Florida : Early voting begins Aug. 8 for the Aug. 18 primary.
Ten states have voter registration deadlines in the next two weeks:
Nine states have absentee/mail-in ballot request deadlines in the next two weeks:
Click here to see our list of upcoming election dates and filing deadlines.
