Johnson Countians have shown up in large numbers to vote in advance for the upcoming general election, with early voting numbers set to potentially outnumber those of the Aug. 2 primary election.
Latest numbers: The Johnson County Election Office reported that roughly 75,000 early votes had been cast across nine advance voting locations by Nov. 2.
- Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said an average of more than 1,000 voters have shown up each hour this week to the 16 advance voting locations across the county.
- Outside of in-person voting, more than 40,000 mail ballots have also been sent out to Johnson County voters for the Nov. 8 general election.
- About 16,000 of those mail ballots have been returned as of Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Why it matters: V0ting numbers for the November general show a larger daily flow of voters compared with the early voting period in July.
- In contrast to this point in time before the Aug. 2 primary election, Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said this shows a 16.6% increase in early voting turnout.
- On Oct. 22, the first day of advance voting in Johnson County, 5,493 voters showed up to cast their vote in advance — just more than 100 additional votes than the number of votes cast on the first early voting day before the Aug. 2 primary.
- General elections typically have more turnout than primary elections, according to nonpartisan organization FairVote. Only voters registered with a political party can cast a ballot in primary elections — voting for a Republican or Democratic candidate for a particular office, for instance.
- However, turnout for the Aug. 2 primary was unusually high because the Kansas Constitutional Amendment on abortion was open to unaffiliated voters.
What if I still haven’t voted?
- Johnson Countians who still want to cast a vote ahead of Nov. 8 and can’t make it to the polls on Election Day still have a few days to do so.
- The majority of Johnson County’s advance voting locations will remain open until Saturday, but select locations will remain open until 12 p.m.Monday.
- The locations remaining open until Monday include the Arts and Heritage Center in Overland Park, the Hilltop Conference Center in Overland Park, and the Johnson County Election Office in Olathe.
- For Johnson Countians, the general election ballot includes races for local, state and federal offices, as well as two constitutional amendments.
