OLATHE, Kan. — The voter registration deadline in Kansas ahead of the Aug. 2 primary was Tuesday, and across the state, there's been a significant increase in activity as voters prepare to head to the polls.
"It is probably in the several hundreds, if over a thousand per day we're seeing for new registration requests," Fred Sherman, the Johnson County Election Commissioner, said.
He says the proposed constitutional amendment regarding abortion is a driver in that activity.
"We don't normally see this level of activity for an August primary in an even year, we're seeing a lot of requests for new registrations and I think that's the issue that's driving a lot of voters," Sherman said. "A lot of females are calling in to register to vote."
Johnson County's total number of registered voters has increased by more than 4600 voters from January to June of this year.
The county reported 449,544 registered voters on the last day of June 2022, compared to 444,914 registered voters on the last day of January of this year.
In a party-by-party breakdown, unaffiliated voters have jumped by more than 2,900 in that same time span.
Registered Democrats have increased by more than 1,400 voters, and registered Republicans are up 91 voters in that time frame.
All of these figures, broken down monthly, can be viewed on the county's election website.
"Sometimes it's issue driven, sometimes it's personality driven, sometimes it's candidate driven," Scott Schwab, Kansas Secretary of State, said. This time, it's a Constitutional issue at a very controversial time. But regardless, if you're able to vote, even if you're unaffiliated with a party, you can vote August 2nd."
Starting this Saturday, nine Johnson County locations will be open for advanced in-person voting. They are as follows:
- Arts and Heritage Center (Overland Park)
- Hilltop Conference Center (Overland Park)
- Johnson County Election Office (Olathe)
- JCL Lackman Facility (Lenexa)
- Johnson County Northeast Offices (Mission)
- Johnson County Sunset Building (Olathe)
- Monticello Library (Shawnee)
- New Century Fieldhouse (New Century)
- Olathe Indian Creek Library (Olathe)
"You see the ups and downs of emotion in politics all the time, but it doesn't change how we administer an election," Schwab said.
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