Record number of Shawnee County residents register to vote

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A record number of Shawnee County residents are registered to vote in the Aug. 2 primary election.

More than 115,000 Shawnee County residents have registered to vote in the Aug. 2 primary election, officials said.

Advance voting will get underway on Monday, July 18, at the Shawnee County Election Office, 3420 S.W. Van Buren. The advance voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday on July 18-22 and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday July 25 to 29.

One more opportunity will await those wishing to cast advance ballots from 8 a.m. to noon Monday, Aug. 1, the day before the primary election.

Shawnee County Election Commissioner Andrew Howell told 13 NEWS on Thursday that he’d never seen so many voter registrations completed as he has in recent weeks.

He said his office personnel have been working until 9 p.m. this week to make sure everyone who registered to vote in Shawnee County is on the rolls.

“We’ve had double the registrations that we’ve ever seen before,” Howell said, “so we’re still working ‘til 9 o’clock at night this week, making sure we get everybody on -- get all of our lists ready to go.

“So we’re staying busy. Big registration. So I expect a lot of people on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week probably will be in here voting in person.”

On Thursday afternoon, several dozen voting booths were set up and ready to go in the Shawnee County Election Office, ready for those wishing to cast their ballots starting Monday.

Meanwhile, Glenda DuBoise, state director of AARP Kansas, said she is encouraging voters 50 and older to make sure they cast their ballots in the upcoming election.

“We want them to know that, number one, 50-plus voters -- your votes decide” elections, DuBoise said. “So it really has an impact on the outcomes.”

DuBoise said the AARP Kansas website had information on when, where and how people can vote.

Among issues of particular concern to voters 50 and older in Kansas, she said, are “high gas prices and food prices -- those kinds of issues.”

She added that Social Security, Medicare, access to “good health care” and access to good-quality high-speed internet also is important to voters 50 and older.

DuBoise noted that people can find out information on their voting locations by contacting their local election office.

Additionally, people can visit www.aarp.org/ksvotes or the Kansas Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.ks.org for more information.

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