Brightly colored cards to let Sedgwick County voters know where to cast ballots

Officials have ramped up efforts to get you to the right polling place on Nov. 4.

Starting this week, the Sedgwick County Election Office is mailing cards to 130,000 households that specify the registered voters’ polling sites. The cards will be “sunny yellow,” Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said.

“We wanted a bright color,” she said, “so they don’t blend in with the rest of the mail.”

The mailing was driven by a number of voters showing up at the wrong polling sites for the August primary.

There have been multiple changes in polling locations since state courts ordered redistricting in 2012, which caused boundary changes for precincts, Lehman said. But the biggest shift came after seven polling sites were switched in 2014 for various reasons.

Over the year leading up to the August primary, voters were notified by mail of those changes. But the cards were white.

“We decided we needed to do something that would make the cards stand out,” Lehman said.

Cards are being sent to all of the county’s households occupied by active registered voters who had not requested a mail-in ballot – not just to those whose polling sites have changed.

The active or inactive label has nothing to do with when voters last voted. Voters are defined as inactive by the county if mailings sent to their listed residences are bounced back by the post office, Lehman said.

“I wouldn’t waste taxpayer money and keep sending them mailings,” she said.

Of the county’s more than 275,000 registered voters, nearly 19,000 are listed as inactive, Lehman said. Inactive voters can still vote, she said.

Cost of the mailing is $35,000, Lehman said. Only one card is being sent to each household.

In the past, cards have only been sent out if a change has occurred. But Lehman is considering more frequent mailings.

“If this is successful in alleviating confusion for voters,” she said, “it is something we will probably do for major elections in the future.”

She said she’s also hopeful the mailings will increase voter turnout. Only 19 percent of the county’s registered voters cast ballots in the August primary.

This story was originally published October 26, 2014 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Brightly colored cards to let Sedgwick County voters know where to cast ballots."