State lawmakers want to limit mail-in ballots. Do you know Kansas, Missouri voting laws?
While most people think of November as election season, major primary elections are approaching in August, and early voting for Kansas City’s spring local elections starts as soon as Feb. 22.
During the pandemic, a lot of people took advantage of the opportunity to vote by mail instead of going to the polls in person. But that kind of flexibility isn’t available anymore in Missouri, and some lawmakers are working this week to further restrict voting by mail in Kansas, too.
Here’s what you need to know about the current laws around mail-in ballots in Kansas and Missouri.
How to vote by mail in Kansas
Who can vote by mail in Kansas?
For now, anyone who wants to. Here’s how.
1. Request a mail-in ballot. You do not need an excuse to request a mail-in ballot in the state of Kansas. However, you do need to apply for one if you want one: they are not sent out automatically.
Apply for a mail-in ballot using this form and send it to your county voting office, listed on page two.
The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is generally one week before an election. You can check the deadlines for upcoming elections on the Kansas Secretary of State’s website.
2. Fill out your ballot. Carefully follow all the instructions included with your mailed ballot. After completing it, you will need to fill out your personal information and sign the first statement on the outside of your return envelope. You’ll also need to complete the other statements if someone has helped you fill out your ballot.
Be sure your envelope is signed and sealed with your ballot inside before you return it. Even if you hand in your ballot in person, it must be sealed inside the provided envelope in order to be counted. If you don’t follow these instructions, your vote may not be counted.
3. Return your ballot. Currently, your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive at your county election office by three days after Election Day in order to be counted— although a proposed new law could change that.
There are a few ways to return your ballot:
By mail: Send your sealed ballot envelope with 58 cents of postage or a Forever stamp to your county election office.
In person: Bring your sealed ballot envelope to your county election office on or before Election Day.
To a polling place or drop box: Some elections allow mailed ballots to be submitted in person to an early voting location, an Election Day polling place or a secure ballot drop box in your county. Consult your county’s election office website for specifics.
How to vote absentee in Missouri
Who can vote by mail in Missouri?
Not everyone. In short, it’s much harder to vote by mail in Missouri than in Kansas.
During the 2020 election season, the state of Missouri briefly offered no-excuse mail-in voting, but that option is now off the table.
The only way to vote by mail is to apply for an absentee ballot with an approved reason for doing so, and mail it in to your local election authority. Here’s how to do that.
1. Request an absentee ballot. You will need to provide one of the following reasons to vote absentee:
Not physically being in your district on Election Day
Being, or caring for, a person who is sick or disabled
Religious reasons
Working on Election Day at a polling place other than your own
Being incarcerated, if you still meet all other requirements to vote
Being a part of Missouri’s address confidentiality program
The risk of getting COVID-19 was added to this list in 2020, but it expired at the end of that year.
If you meet one of the requirements above, you can apply for an absentee ballot using this form. The application must be mailed, faxed or emailed to your local election authority, which you can find by selecting your county’s name on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website.
Pro tip: If you registered to vote by mail and have not voted in person, you’ll have to submit a copy of your ID with your absentee ballot request unless you already provided a copy with your voter registration application.
Missouri law requires that requests for absentee ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on the second Wednesday prior to Election Day, if they are mailed.
2. Fill out your ballot. Carefully follow all of the instructions on your mailed absentee ballot and mark the choices you wish to vote for. Do this in secret, where no one else can see. Then place your ballot inside the provided envelope but DO NOT seal it or write on the outside of it. Instead, make an appointment with a notary public to complete the next steps.
3. Notarize your ballot. Nearly everyone voting absentee in Missouri must get their ballot notarized. The exceptions are those voting absentee due to an illness or disability, caregivers of an ill or disabled person, overseas voters and active duty military members and their families. All of the other reasons listed above require you to find a notary public to verify your ballot officially.
Make an appointment with a notary in your area and bring along your government ID and completed ballot in its unsealed envelope. If someone helped you fill out your ballot, bring them along to the appointment, too.
At your appointment, seal the ballot envelope in front of the notary, fill out your contact information on the outside of the envelope, and sign it with the notary watching. If someone helped you fill out your ballot, they should follow the ballot’s instructions to sign the envelope too. Once the notary has witnessed you seal and sign it of your own free will, they can then notarize your ballot.
Noraties in the state of Missouri are NOT permitted to charge a fee for notarizing a ballot, even if they charge fees for other notary services.
Pro tip: The Kansas City Public Library offers free notary services at branches around Kansas City.
4. Return your ballot. Finally, mail your completed absentee ballot to your local election authority. You can find that address by selecting your county here. The ballot must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted, so get it in the mail as early as possible.
Do you have more questions about voting or elections in Kansas or Missouri? Reporters from The Star’s service journalism and politics teams want to answer your questions in the months leading up to the primary elections in August. Let us know what we can look into and help make some sense of at kcq@kcstar.com or with the form below.
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