Today’s Election Day in Wichita’s 1st District

After a spirited but cordial campaign, today is Election Day for City Council in Wichita’s 1st District.

Voting begins at 6 a.m. and ends when the last person in line at 7 p.m. has cast a ballot.

Today’s election is to narrow the list of four candidates – Mike Kinard, Brandon Johnson, Janet Wilson and John Stevens – to two finalists who will face off in the Nov. 7 general election.

In Wichita, only 1st District voters vote today because none of the other city or school board races have enough candidates to justify a primary election.

The only other races on today’s ballot in Sedgwick County are for people who live in Haysville City Council Ward 4 or Park City Ward 3.

The four Wichita candidates have all campaigned hard, but respectfully, for the post being vacated by council member Lavonta Williams, who is term-limited out of office.

The campaign has been essentially devoid of attack ads and the candidates have mostly appealed directly to voters in person and online, and through issue forums sponsored by various community groups.

This is the first election since the state Legislature moved city and school elections from the spring to the fall in an effort to boost turnout.

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said she’s expecting slightly higher turnout this year than the last two primaries because it will be easier for voters to get to the polls. The February primaries in 2013 and 2015 were impacted by severe winter weather.

District 1 is a strip of the east-central part of the city that starts in the Linwood Park neighborhood in south Wichita, runs north through College Hill and the east side of downtown, up through the area around Wichita State University and to the city’s northern border. It juts out to the west to take in the WaterWalk and McAdams Park areas and to the east to pick up neighborhoods around Chisholm Creek Park.

To find out whether you’re eligible to vote in the election or to locate your polling place, or both, visit the election commissioner’s web site at www.sedgwickcounty.org/elections or call the office at 316-660-7100.

For more information on the candidates and where they stand on issues, visit www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/election/article162986943.html

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 7:24 AM with the headline "Today’s Election Day in Wichita’s 1st District."