INDEPENDENCE, Mo — Tomorrow's elections in both Jackson and Johnson counties are important, and Board of Election officials are encouraging voters to show up to the polls no matter how big or small these elections might seem.
“Nobody wants 10-15% of the voting population making the decision for them,” Tammy Brown, Board of Election Director for Jackson County said.
In Jackson County, board election officials are not expecting a big voter turnout.
“In office [it] has been very light mail outs, nothing extra ordinary," Brown said. "I mean, our normal permits, [our] disabled list and a few other requests, [but we've had] few military. Its an off year election number 1. Number 2, the poll notification cards went out last week so voters now know there is an election."
Still, Brown said Jackson County is following all protocols and preparing for any number of voters who show up to the polls on Tuesday.
“We’re always busy because it takes the same amount of time to put together a large election as it does a small election,” Brown said. “We assigned the judges a little lighter whereas last November during presidential we may have had 10 to 12 election judges, we’ve got 6 working at each poll this time.”
Just across the state line in Johnson County, the expectations are a bit different
“The numbers for this 2021 election cycle have been very healthy, very strong, compared to what it was 2 and 4 years ago," Fred Sherman, Johnson County Election Commisioner said. "We saw over 25,000 people vote here as of Saturday. We had an additional 2,100 for four hours today and our vote by mails numbers we sent out and they are starting to come back."
With mayoral races in Overland Park, along with school district, county board of trustees and other races across Johnson County, Sherman predicts a 20% voter turnout.
“My advice to voters is know who you are voting on, these are not partisan elections so on the ballot we will not list the political parties of the people running for these offices,” Sherman said.
“If they want to take part and not complain about it later that'ss when you get out an vote even if there is only two questions,” Brown said.
