The Tenth Circuit upheld a Kansas law that prohibits private groups from partially prefilling mail-ballot applications before sending them to voters. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously.
The Kansas Legislature passed the law in 2021 over the governor’s veto. Two nonprofits sued, and the district court sided with them, finding the law was meant to suppress speech favoring mail-in voting. Writing for the panel, Judge Timothy Tymkovich rejected that conclusion. The district court, he wrote, “inferred an improper purpose from the national political debate on mail-in voting” rather than from the law itself, and “that finding was in error.”
The Fifth Circuit reversed and entered judgment for the plaintiffs. The court reaffirmed that the right to keep arms includes the right to buy them, recognized the law as a purchase ban, and rejected the idea that Americans should pay a fee to exercise a constitutional right. The government’s historical examples, from wartime export limits to gunpowder inspection laws, could not justify a peacetime ban on buyers from outside a state. The court also expressly rejected the Second Circuit’s contrary decision.
Applying intermediate scrutiny, the Tenth Circuit determined that the law serves significant interests in reducing voter confusion, easing the burden on county election offices, and protecting confidence in elections. The groups also remain free to advocate for mail voting.
Read Ruling Here: 2:21-CV-02253-KHV