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Kansas Secretary of State: More than half of registered voters likely to vote in election

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Posted at 2:34 PM, Nov 04, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-07 11:45:35-05

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab predicted Friday that more than half of registered Kansans will turn out to vote as part of next Tuesday’s general election.

Schwab predicted that roughly 53% of registered voters will cast a ballot in this year’s midterm elections. The predicted turnout is slightly less than the actual turnout of 56.4% in the last midterm elections in 2018.

“There are many important races on the ballot this election, including two constitutional amendments,” Schwab said Friday.

Those going to the polls Tuesday will need to present a government-issued photo ID in order to vote.

The Secretary of State’s office says more than 191,000 Kansans have already cast their ballot through in advance, in-person voting. An additional 91,540 Kansans have returned their advance ballot by mail.

The number of Kansans who have voted early in-person this year is up from 180,703 voters who took advantage of early in-person voting in 2018. The number of Kansans who voted early through the mail, however, is down from 122,000 in 2019. Both figures could still increase ahead of next Tuesday.

As is the historical norm, the predicted turnout for a midterm election falls well short of turnout in Presidential election years, and this year is no different. The predicted turnout of 53% pales in comparison to the nearly 71% turnout in 2020.

Heading into the election, nearly two million Kansans are registered to vote. By party affiliation, 883,988 voters are registered as Republican (44.7%), 544,000 are unaffiliated (27.5%) and 523,317 are registered as Democrat (26.4%). An additional 23,230 voters are registered Libertarians (1.2%).