Turnout for the November election was the third highest in Johnson County’s history, despite the fact that it was in a non-presidential year, according to statistics shared by County Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt as the post-election vote canvass began Friday.
Some 298,141 ballots were cast for a 62.4% turnout, Schmidt said, placing the vote totals behind the 2020 presidential election, with 350,750 cast and the 2024 presidential election year, 348,594.
“Almost 300,000 ballots were counted, and I’ve gotta believe we’ll have over 300,000 when we count the provisional, which is pretty amazing,” she said.
Schmidt and county commissioners met Friday for the first half of the vote canvass, which is when they decide how or whether to count provisional ballots. A ballot becomes provisional if, for example, a person shows up at the wrong polling place or does not have photo ID with them.
Provisional ballots for the Nov. 3 election were broken down into three parts — 4,474 that were recommended to count, 791 to partially count and 1,548 recommended not to count,
The recommendation not to count was given for a variety of reasons. The most common was that the person wishing to vote had not registered. There were 1,174 who fit that description. Schmidt said they were offered registration forms so they’d be eligible next time.
The 791 ballots to partially count were mostly people who came to the wrong polling place on Election Day and cast ballots that included districts in which they did not live. The 4,474 ballots recommended to count generally included people who had come in to fix ballot information or provide an ID.
The Johnson County election office audits of the three close statewide races and two close state House district races did not impact the unofficial winners in those races, Schmidt said. The race for Kansas governor was called for Democrat Cindy Holscher on Thursday.
The two close House district races that include Johnson County remained close Friday morning. Unofficial totals from the Secretary of State’s office showed Democrat Sara Kiewiet leading incumbent Republican Sean Tarwater by a margin of only 53 votes in House District 27.
In House District 117, Democrat Brandon Holland held a 142-vote lead over incumbent Republican Adam Turk.
Commissioners will meet again Monday to hear the final count and certify the election results.
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