On February 23, the Kansas House passed HB 2086. Among other things, it requires declared write-in candidates to pay the same filing fee that candidates on the ballot must pay.

Courts in California, Maryland, and West Virginia have ruled that it is unconstitutional to require write-in candidates to pay filing fees. The only legitimate purpose of filing fees is to prevent ballots from being too crowded, according to the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Lubin v Panish. Write-in candidates’ names aren’t printed on ballots, so there is no legitimate rationale for filing fees for write-in candidates.