The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has reversed a lower court ruling allowing organizations VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center (VPC) to send mail-in ballot applications with pre-filled voter information to Kansas residents.
The plaintiffs, who initially brought the case against Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and other officials, argued that a provision of Kansas statute HB 2332 violated their First Amendment rights to free speech and association. Kansas officials defended the law, arguing it protects against voter fraud and confusion.
The appeals court found that while the statute is a content-based regulation, it warrants intermediate scrutiny rather than strict scrutiny, requiring only that the state’s approach be “substantially related” to its interests, rather than the “least restrictive means.” The court rejected the plaintiffs’ association claims but remanded the free speech claim to the district court, which will now re-evaluate whether HB 2332’s intent was to limit pro-mail-voting speech. The ruling follows Kansas’s enactment of HB 2332 after the 2020 election, during which VPC sent voting packages to nearly 500,000 Kansas voters.
This case is one of multiple challenges to recent Kansas voting laws, with the League of Women Voters of Kansas also litigating aspects of HB 2332 and related statute HB 2183. Their case highlights concerns around voter education restrictions, advocacy limitations, and requirements on ballot assistance and signatures.
