$4.5 million purchase paves way for new Sedgwick County Election Office headquarters

The Sedgwick County Election Office will vacate its downtown space at the historic courthouse and move into a significantly larger east Wichita office by fall 2025.

The County Commission on Wednesday approved the $4.5 million purchase of the Walton’s Inc. building at 3635 N. Comotara, which is between Rock and Webb roads. The grilling retailer is in the process of constructing a new building, so the sale won’t be finalized until next summer.

Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater’s office has outgrown its combined 18,890 square feet of office and warehouse space, and the county has been on the hunt for a new facility since 2018, evaluating at least 25 buildings. The original project budget was $3 million.

“Here in the last two or three years, real estate prices have gone through the roof, so that $3 million doesn’t go that far,” Rainwater said Monday.

Adding security upgrades, fencing, signage and minor remodeling costs to the purchase price, the relocation is expected to cost the county $5,884,428 in total. The Walton’s building will provide 46,613 square feet of combined office and warehouse space, 128 parking spaces and four loading docks.

“This will allow for growth because with us adding additional polling sites, we’re going to need additional equipment at some point,” Rainwater said. “Sedgwick County is not shrinking, it’s only growing.”

Commissioner David Dennis called it a “perfect location,” even though it’s roughly 9 miles from the election office’s current headquarters.

“A lot of people want us to go downtown,” Dennis said. “We looked downtown hard. That’s really where we started. We wanted it downtown. There are no buildings downtown we could find.”

Only Commissioner Jim Howell voted against the purchase.

“The $3 million was a goal. Maybe we can’t do that. That’s fine. But I don’t want to concede to basically doubling the price,” Howell said.

He said he would have preferred a different option, like the call center at 7236 E. Harry with 49,000 square feet of space and more than 500 parking spaces. The owner had wanted to lease the space but Howell said he was confident the county could have worked out a deal.

“It’s a lot less money and it’s a better location,” he said. “I don’t think we actually gave it due diligence, is my personal opinion.”

Under state law, the election office must open for early voting two weeks before Election Day. Rainwater said once the office moves out east, she plans to open a satellite location downtown and one in west Wichita that will be open for the same extended window of time.

“My number one goal is to provide accessible elections,” she said.