Vote in Tuesday’s primary

Low turnout for Tuesday’s primary seems likely to follow what have been low-key campaigns for mayor and Wichita City Council.

But Wichita voters should plan a visit to the polls as part of their day, given that all 199,983 of them can help pare the mayoral candidates from 10 to two.

Surely local voters can do better than in the 2013 primary, when heavy snowfall and weak challengers in two council districts helped keep turnout at 4.69 percent, or perhaps even than 2011, when 7.7 percent of registered voters cast votes in the mayoral primary.

Like the primaries of 2003 and 1993 – which saw turnouts of about 27 and 21 percent, respectively – this one stands out because no sitting or former mayor is on the ballot.

So Tuesday’s important decision about which two candidates will face off to succeed term-limited Mayor Carl Brewer, along with the primaries in the northwest and far-east Wichita council districts, will set the races for the April 7 general election – and also set expectations for the issues and how the next mayor and council may handle them.

Why does the primary merit a lot of attention and participation?

▪ Because Wichita is still trying to recover from the loss of 20,000 jobs in the Great Recession, including the 2,100 who worked at Boeing’s now-closed local operation.

▪  Because November’s crushing defeat of a proposed 1-cent citywide sales tax left City Hall with no clear answers on how to pay for and improve the bus system, fund an ample water supply for the future, and step up street repairs, let alone tackle a $2.1 billion need to upgrade the water and sewer infrastructure that didn’t factor into the ballot question.

▪  Because everybody talks about the necessity of creating jobs and helping local businesses grow, but Wichita voters also now seem to have twice stated opposition to the use of publicly funded incentives to do so. The way forward is unclear.

▪  Because Wichita has made some significant progress on its downtown under Brewer – a revival still underway and at risk without strong support from the next mayor and council.

The voters who skip this primary will amplify the voices of the motivated few who show up and state their preference.

Strong turnout also could influence events at the Statehouse, where lawmakers seem ready to scrap spring municipal and school board elections in Kansas and move these local contests to the fall of either odd- or even-numbered years.

Where can a would-be voter start? The Eagle’s online Voter Guide has the candidates’ answers to a lot of questions vital to Wichita’s future.

Presented as another piece of information, The Eagle editorial board’s endorsements for mayor and Wichita City Council are as follows (find full endorsements at Kansas.com/opinion/editorials):

Wichita mayor: Sam Williams

City Council District 2: Pete Meitzner

City Council District 5: Bryan Frye

This story was originally published March 2, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Vote in Tuesday’s primary."