How many Sedgwick County voters have cast an early ballot? See updated voter turnout
The final day of in-person voting Monday, Nov. 4, bumped the turnout percentage in Sedgwick County over 35%, Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater told The Wichita Eagle.
The county is expecting to see about 71% registered voter turnout for the 2024 general election. Looking at previous presidential election years, the county saw a 65% turnout in 2016 and a 70% turnout in 2020.
Early voting has been open for about two weeks. There were three locations open the first week, and an additional 17 locations opened Tuesday through Saturday last week. The Sedgwick County Historic Courthouse was the only early voting site open Monday and saw a big crowd, which was expected.
“We maxed out our [staffing] capacity here at the historic courthouse this morning because we knew there’s always a long line the day before,” Rainwater said.
The Sedgwick County Election Statistics Dashboard, updated Monday at 3 p.m., reported a total of 96,729 early in-person voters and 28,146 mail-in ballots returned to the election office, or 35.6% of registered voters.
Due to the high turnout of early voters, the county isn’t expecting especially long wait times Tuesday.
“I don’t think the lines will be as bad, just because so many people have already voted, just what we want,” Rainwater said.
Additional polling places could also alleviate some of the longer wait times, Rainwater said.
“We added 25 new polling places for this year, and so that reduced the number of registered voters per polling site,” Rainwater said. “So I’m hoping the lines won’t be as bad.”
For voters casting their ballot Tuesday, Rainwater wants to ask voters to be kind to poll workers.
“They’re working a 14-hour day tomorrow. Be kind and be patient,” Rainwater said.
She also wants to remind people to leave their campaign merchandise at home, as wearing that to the polls is considered electioneering.
For those who have yet to return their mail-in ballots, Rainwater recommends to return them in person, either at a polling place, a county drop box or to the election office. If it’s not possible to do so in person, the ballot has to be postmarked on Election Day and sent to the election office by Friday.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. As long as you’re in line by 7 p.m., you can cast your vote.
You can find your Election Day polling place by entering your first and last name as well as your date of birth on the Kansas secretary of state’s VoterView website.
