Tuesday is Election Day, when Republican and Democratic voters take to the polls for primaries.
Secretary of State Scott Schwab is predicting low turnout in this election, especially compared to 2020 and 2022 — when the anti-abortion Value Them Both Amendment was on the ballot — citing less advance voting. He predicts voter turnout will be more in line with the 24% turnout in 2016.
"I encourage Kansas voters to prove history wrong by beating the 2016 comparison numbers," Schwab said in a statement. "We should exceed 2016, but Kansans must go vote!"
Gov. Laura Kelly, who advance voted on Thursday to help remind people to vote, urged young voters to go to the polls.
"Get out and vote, for one thing," Kelly said. "Our future as a country is really on the line this time around in a very serious way, and the young people have more at stake than people like me. So it's important that they go out and they make their voices heard — and heard loud."
The top local races to watch include the primaries for the 2nd Congressional District, the Republican primary for Senate District 20 and the Democratic primary for Senate District 19, as well as two primary challenges to Shawnee County commissioners.
What to know before voting
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., but you may still vote as long as you are in line before closing time.
Under state law, the vast majority of voters must show a photo ID when voting in-person. A state driver's license or ID card works, as do U.S. passports and military ID, Native American ID cards, student ID cards and other documents.
If you haven't yet returned your mail ballot, you can still do that by taking it to a polling location before polls close. Otherwise, mail ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday and arrive by Friday in order to be counted.
You may check your voting information online viaVoterView from the Secretary of State's Office. Using your name and birthday, you can confirm your address, party association, mail-in ballot status and polling place location.
The ACLU of Kansas has a hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE to help voters who report issues or have questions.
Unofficial election results are typically available within a few hours of polls closing, but results won't be official until later in the month.
More:Can you put political campaign signs by the road in Kansas? Here are state and local rules
U.S. House of Representatives
With U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., leaving Congress, both the Republican and Democratic fields are contested. The seat covers much of the eastern third of Kansas, minus Lawrence and most of the Kansas City metro area.
Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, of Independence, is considered the frontrunner and has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The other contenders are Herington cattleman Shawn Tiffany, who has branded himself as a conservative cowboy and aired provocative TV ads, and Topekan Jeff Kahrs, a former LaTurner staffer who worked in the Trump administration.
Also running in the GOP primary are Michael Ogle, a convicted felon from Topeka, and Chad Young, of Lawrence.
In the Democratic primary, Nancy Boyda, of Baldwin City, is running for the seat she held from 2007 to 2009. She faces former University of Kansas basketball player Matt Kleinmann, who is now a community developer in Kansas City, Kan.
More:How much cash Kansas congressional candidates have for primary clash
Kansas Legislature
Topeka and Shawnee County have eight seats in the Kansas House, while the county is split into four seats in the Kansas Senate.
Senate District 19 is a new seat in the area after redistricting. While it has contested primaries for Republicans and Democrats, the district's voter registration leans Democratic, and that party's primary race has turned bitter.
Longtime Topeka politician Vic Miller, the current House minority leader, is seeking a return to the Senate. But the governor and her Middle of the Road PAC want to keep him out of the Senate, backing Patrick Schmidt, who bought a house in the district earlier this year after a failed run for Congress in 2022 following service in the Navy. Also running is local community advocate ShaMecha King Simms.
More:Democrats ShaMecha King Simms, Vic Miller and Patrick Schmidt run for Senate District 19
On the Republican side, Topeka's more conservative Tyler Wible is running against Lawrence's self-described moderate Cynthia Smith.
More:Cynthia Smith and Tyler Wible on GOP primary ballot for Senate District 19
Another prominent local race is the Senate District 20 Republican primary, where incumbent Sen. Brenda Dietrich faces a challenge from Josh Powell, who served one term in the Legislature in 2013-14.
Powell has attacked Dietrich for her 2017 vote for the "largest tax increase in Kansas history" — which was the repeal of the Brownback tax cuts that Dietrich said "voters of this district asked me to do." He has also criticized her vote against a bill banning transgender athletes from girls and women's sports — which Dietrich opposed because the bill went "much further and subjects grade school students to gender verification exams."
More:Brenda Dietrich and Josh Powell on Republican primary ballot for Senate District 20
The Democratic candidate is unopposed in the primary.
There is also a contested Democratic primary to fill the House seat that Miller is vacating. Miller is backing Alexis Simmons, a staffer for House Democrats, who is running against Wendy Damman-Bednar. The Republican candidate is unopposed in the primary. Voter registration in House District 58 leans Democratic.
More:Wendy Damman-Bednar and Alexis Simmons on Democratic primary ballot for House District 58
Also on the ballot are several uncontested primary races.
Kansas State Board of Education
Topeka is split into three districts for the Kansas State Board of Education, two of which are up for election this year.
District 4 has a contested Republican primary among Nancy Moneymaker, of De Soto, Gina Montalbano Zesiger, of Lawrence, and Connie O'Brien, of Tonganoxie. The Democratic field has only one candidate.
District 6 does not have contested primaries.
More:These are the candidates on the ballot in Topeka for August primary election
Shawnee County
Two of three Shawnee County Commission seats are up for election this year, and both incumbents face primary challenges.
District 2 Commissioner Kevin Cook faces Robert Soria in the Democratic primary, while the Republican field has only one candidate. District 3 Commissioner Aaron Mays faces Brett Blackburn in the Republican primary, while the Democratic field has only one candidate.
The incumbent Shawnee County district attorney, sheriff and register of deeds are all unopposed in their bids for reelection. The treasurer and clerk primary races are uncontested, but will be contested in the general election.
More:These issues drove candidates to run for Shawnee County Commission District 2
More:Shawnee County Commission District 3 candidates make their cases for your vote
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X@Jason_Alatidd.
