By Ned Seaton
State Rep. Angel Roeser of Manhattan has again played a swing-vote role on a contested issue in the statehouse.
Roeser switched her vote Tuesday to provide the necessary margin for Republicans to override a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. The override means that a law will go into effect that requires all mail-in ballots to be counted by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Previously, mail ballots would count so long as they were postmarked by Election Day and arrived to the elections office by the following Friday.
Republicans argued that the move would help secure elections and would boost public confidence in them. Democrats argued that the earlier cutoff would mean otherwise legitimate votes wouldn’t get counted, and contended more specifically that it would harm seniors, college students and people in rural areas.
