Does my Kansas vote still count if I leave some races empty? What to know for election
Kansas voters will flood to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes in the 2024 general election.
Given the presidential race, turnout is expected to be high, so if you haven’t cast your vote early, be prepared to wait in line at your polling place. The ballot also has several Wichita-area and state elections, including the Sedgwick County Commission, Kansas Board of Education, the Kansas Legislature and more.
You can see your sample ballot online on the Kansas secretary of state’s VoterView website. From there, enter your first and last name and date of birth, then you can see what your ballot will look like when you vote.
For newer voters, the ballot can be confusing, especially if races you’re unfamiliar with pop up. But if you decide to leave a race blank, do your votes on other races count? The answer is yes.
According to Ballotpedia, the definition of an undervote is “when the number of choices selected by a voter in an election is less than the maximum number allowed for that election.” If you go in and only decide to vote on specific races, your votes will be counted for those races regardless of any other races you left blank on the ballot.
On the other hand, overvoting occurs when people select more choices than allowed — like two votes for one race. Overvoting does disqualify the person’s ballot.
You can see where your polling place is on the secretary of state’s VoterView tool.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 3:06 PM.
