KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge has halted enforcement of a new Kansas law that restricts who can send advance mail ballot applications to voters and criminalizes providing personalized applications with information already filled out.
U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Vratil issued a preliminary injunction against the law, known as HB 2332, after VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center — nonpartisan groups that register voters — sued to overturn it.
The groups, Vratil wrote, "will likely demonstrate that HB 2332 impermissibly restricts their ability to engage in protected First Amendment activity and that it is not narrowly tailored to serve the admittedly compelling state interest of preventing voter fraud."
The organizations alleged that the provisions restricting advance ballot applications violate free speech and equal protection guarantees as well as the Commerce Clause of the U.S. constitution by preventing distribution of the materials,
The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill this spring and enacted it over a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The bill was one of a series of measures that made changes to voting and election procedures in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, in which President Donald Trump and his supporters promoted baseless claims the election was stolen.
The ruling isn't the final say. It only temporarily blocks enforcement of the law while the lawsuit will proceeds.
