Kansas Lawmakers end legislative session with attack on voters, immigrants, and due process for all 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2026

CONTACT
Esmie Tseng, [email protected]

Topeka, KS – Kansas state lawmakers overrode gubernatorial vetoes last week in a broad attack on Kansans’ ability to vote, to be free from unconstitutional detention, and to protest.

“Lawmakers have turned on the rights of their own constituents, on voters across the state, on the immigrant community, and on potentially every Kansan,” said Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “These bills are part and parcel of the illegal and dangerous attempts nationally to subvert our democracy and to dismantle our fundamental constitutional protections against government overreach and state violence. We look forward to fighting against them alongside other Kansans.”

HB 2437 was one of several bills comprising an unprecedented attack on Kansas elections and voters’ rights marking the 2026 legislative session. HB 2437, the so-called SAVE Kansas Act, in particular will create new mechanisms for purging voters from the rolls and through additional obstructions of voter registration efforts. It risks the future privacy and data of thousands of Kansas residents by requiring the compilation of new lists with sensitive information, similar to the past errors of the Crosscheck system that compromised the sensitive data of nearly 1,000 Kansas voters and that the ACLU of Kansas challenged in a 2018 lawsuit.

Attempts to override the governor's veto on other election-related bills narrowly failed Friday.

S Sub HB 2372, which also became law after a veto override, has received local attention for the First Amendment concerns of its creation of a 25-foot zone around law enforcement and criminalization of protest activity. However, the new law will also completely upend the county-level decision-making process of how sheriffs enter into 287g agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, removing county officials’ role and granting sheriffs unchecked power. It will also expand sheriffs’ authority to indefinitely detain people in jail without a warrant on behalf of ICE, a direct legislative contradiction of the fundamental constitutional requirement that detention be supported by probable cause.

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About the ACLU of Kansas: The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.