Last update: 10:14 p.m. Tuesday
Today — Tuesday, Aug. 3 — is the primary election that will determine the six candidates who advance to the November general election in the Lawrence City Commission and Lawrence school board races.
The county began posting unofficial election results just before 8 p.m. Tuesday, and 85 of 85 precincts were reporting before 9 p.m.
According to the unofficial results, voters on Nov. 2 will choose from Lisa Larsen, Bart Littlejohn, Stuart Boley, Amber Sellers, Ma’Ko’Quah Jones and Milton Scott for Lawrence City Commission.
The top five who will advance in the school board race are Kelly Jones, Kay Emerson, GR Gordon-Ross, Andrew Nussbaum, and Nate Morsches — but with 988 votes apiece, it was not immediately clear Tuesday night whether Elizabeth Stephens, Melissa Clissold or both would move on to the general.
Mail ballots that the county receives by Friday can still be counted as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, and those votes could break the tie. In addition, Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said via email Tuesday night that there were about 100 provisional ballots for the election that would be added at the election canvass on Aug. 19.
“So, the totals will change some before they are official,” Shew said.
Earlier updates:
This chart shows voter turnout as of 3 p.m. polling place checks on the right. In the 11 a.m. checks, shown at left, a few polling places had not been contacted yet:
Shew said there was no city primary in 2019, but at the 11 a.m. check in 2017, the county had 967 advance ballots and 992 voting in the polls, for 1,959 total. The final number of voters was 6,081.
As of the 11 a.m. checks today, the county had 1,494 advance ballots and 788 voting at the polls, for 2,282 total.
Here’s an updated polling place breakdown of votes cast as of today’s 3:30 p.m. update, courtesy of Shew’s office — the county had 1,663 advance ballots and 2,650 voting at the polls for 4,313 total:
300-Check-Primary-2021-1This map shows potential voter turnout at Lawrence-area polling places as of the 3:30 p.m. update. Some of the polling places were in temporary locations, and some location data did not align 100% with the results data spreadsheet. Polling places with discrepancies are denoted with “***”.
Polls closed at 7 p.m.
More 2021 election coverage:
Lawrence City Commission candidates talk economic development at Chamber’s forum
In between questions about economic issues in Lawrence, such as childcare, local purchasing policy, and the Downtown Master Plan, City Commission candidates explained what role they thought the commission should have in the business community in Wednesday’s forum, hosted by The Chamber of Lawrence.