Early, in-person voting in Johnson County began Saturday, July 18, and voters will be able to cast advance ballots between then and Election Day on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
During the primary election season this summer, the Johnson County Post gave our readers in-depth and informative coverage of the races and issues affecting Johnson County.
We collected responses to reader-generated questionnaires from dozens of candidates who are seeking federal, state and local offices impacting Johnson County. (Read all the questions we asked candidates here, and check out the questions readers submitted here.)
We also hosted a forum for three candidates running for chair of the Board of County Commissioners.
We put in the work to make sure voters like you have access to those who would govern your communities, control your tax dollars and make important decisions on your behalf.
As Johnson County residents head to the polls or mail in ballots (or drop them off at secure drop box locations), we’ve put together election primers for each of the races in the Post’s coverage area.
These guides will give you a quick and easy way to find out more about the candidates and where they stand on the issues important to our readers, so you can decide for yourself who will best represent you in Washington, Topeka and closer to home.
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The candidates
- Karen Crnkovich
- Mike Kelly (incumbent)
- Gene Senesac
*Read more about the candidates in our voter guide here.
The key issues
The Post crafted a five-item questionnaire for this race based on our readers’ input about what they wanted to hear from candidates.
Click on the links below to read the candidates’ responses to each of the following issues:
- Property taxes and the county budget
- Housing affordability and development
- Data centers
- Immigration and the county’s role
- Homelessness
Watch our candidate forum
The Post hosted a forum for county chair candidates on June 30.
A recording of the forum is embedded below.
Questions and timestamps
A recap of the candidate forum can be found here.
In the meantime, below is the list of topics we asked the candidates questions about, as well as their corresponding timestamps, during the forum.
1. Opening statements [3:36]
2. Property taxes and tax-related questions [7:34]
3. Housing affordability and attainability [23:19]
4. Data centers [31:49]
5. Emergency medical services: Funding issues and employee turnover at Johnson County Med-Act [36:59]
6. Election security, voter access, early voting site closures [42:14]
7. Johnson County’s World Cup spending, investment in bus transit [49:17]
8. Board of County Commissioners’ involvement on administrative decisions, transparency on human resources and personnel issues [57:01]
9. Engaging/involving younger residents and volunteers into county government [1:03:21]
10. Closing statements: What’s the most important challenge facing Johnson County over the next four years, and how will your leadership address that? [1:06:46]
