In person over mail: Sedgwick County to shift money for voting in 2024 presidential election

Sedgwick County is increasing access for voting in person on Election Day while making it less convenient to vote by mail.

The county will have 30 new polling sites for next year’s presidential election, but it will not send out advance ballot applications to registered voters.

The County Commission’s 4-1 Republican majority voted Wednesday to reallocate Election Office funds, opting to boost the number of polling sites instead of mailing the advance ballot applications, as was the initial plan in County Manager Tom Stolz’s 2024 budget proposal.

“I love the idea of having more poll sites. I’ve been wanting this for so long,” said Commissioner Jim Howell, who introduced the motion and said the 15 additional polling sites that had already received funding in the 2024 budget simply weren’t enough.

Voters can still get a mail ballot. They will have to download an application and send it to the Election Office via mail, email or fax.

Instead of sending advance ballot applications to all voters, the county will send a postcard with information about voting in Sedgwick County to each household with a voter.

“We do need 30 polling sites. I totally agree with you, Commissioner Howell,” Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater said. “That is a very good tradeoff with the mailer — not the application, but the mailer will provide all the ways you can vote, all your early voting sites, it will provide a QR code with a link to the application if you want an advance by mail application.”

She said many of the county’s 83 polling stations are overcrowded, including some to which more than 7,000 registered voters have been assigned.

Prior to 2022, the Election Office had sent out mail ballot applications to voters in every statewide election since 2008. Last year, the County Commission voted to send out the informational postcard instead of a mail ballot application. Roughly 20,000 fewer voters cast a mail ballot than in the 2018 midterm.

Democrat Sarah Lopez was the only commissioner to vote against the fund reallocation, saying the move creates an accessibility issue for voters who can’t get to the polls.

“We have set a precedent in the past of sending [ballot applications] out — especially in presidential years,” Lopez said. “So, while I agree with some of this, I don’t agree with not sending the applications out.”

“I totally agree with you that it is — not a necessity, but it provides better access for everybody,” Rainwater responded.

“But it’s a very costly endeavor, and with budget cuts that everybody’s talking about, I totally understand why you’re trying to make best use of taxpayer money. But absolutely, I support advance by mail applications and advance by mail ballots.”

She noted that there’s nothing stopping outside groups from sending advance ballot applications to voters, as long as they don’t expressly endorse a candidate. The Free State Committee, a nonprofit corporation formed by Democratic political strategist Levi Henry, sent mail ballot applications to targeted voters ahead of the Aug. 1 city and school primary.

Howell said he encourages voters to show up to the polls instead.

“My personal opinion is, poll sites are more secure, and when you walk out [after] you cast your ballot, you know your vote counted,” Howell said. “You mail it in, you’re kind of subject to lots of things that might go wrong. We know that from canvassing. We’ve seen that before. . . It’s just that people sometimes don’t read the instructions well or something.”

But Rainwater said concerns about the security of mail-in voting are unfounded.

“It’s secure,” she said. “We do incredible signature verifications that go through every ballot that we receive through the mail.”