Post last updated at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6:
No, neigh, non, nein, ni, nahin, nee, la, and not no way, not no how.
A strong majority of voters at all 44 of Douglas County’s polling places said “no” Tuesday to a constitutional amendment that would have opened the door for politicians to ban abortion in the state.
The so-called “Value them Both” amendment was soundly defeated by nearly a 60-40 margin. Douglas County’s final, but unofficial, total was 37,889 “no” votes, or 81.5%, to 8,601 “yes” votes, or 18.7%.
As of Friday’s vote tally, the “yes” vote won in Douglas County in two tiny precincts, where voters cast 17 ballots between them — 13 yeses and four nos. In all the other 112 precincts, the “no” vote prevailed.
But in the heart of Lawrence, in particular, voters said “no” loud and proud. Voters assigned to Trinity Lutheran Church and Cider Gallery polling places — in downtown and East Lawrence, respectively — both voted “no” at more than 95%.
Zoom in, mouse over, tap, or click on a data point on the map below for more information. These numbers are unofficial counts through Friday, Aug. 5.
At 10 out of 45 Douglas County polling places, where nearly 8,000 voters cast their ballots, “no” won more than 90% of the votes.
The closest any Douglas County polling place came to voting “yes” was in Eudora. Two of its polling places voted “yes” at 39% and 36.5%. As the map shows, the further away a Douglas County polling place was from downtown Lawrence, the stronger the “yes” percentage.
Still, nowhere in Douglas County came anywhere close to 50-50 — or to Wallace or Gove counties, where voters said “yes” at 83% and 79%, respectively.
Douglas County turnout
Overall, 57.4% of Douglas County voters cast their ballots in the Aug. 2 election. The state was still updating voter totals well into the evening Friday, but numbers from earlier this week showed that Douglas County’s turnout was the strongest for any county with a population greater than 2,000.
The polling place that saw the greatest percentage turnout was Vintage Church, at 15th and New Hampshire streets, with nearly 71% of voters casting a ballot on the amendment question (91% no). Clinton Township Hall, southeast of Clinton Lake, came in a close second, with 69% turnout (63.78% no).
The polling place with the lowest turnout — which still hit about 40% — was the Douglas County Human Services Building, 25th and Ridge Court, where 87% of voters said “no.”
Around the state
Douglas County voters made more than a full percentage point difference in the statewide vote. And the county voted “no” at a larger margin than any others in Kansas — next closest was Wyandotte, with 74% of the vote.
But in a lot of Kansas’ less-populated and very red counties, the vote came closer than many political experts may have expected.
On the map below, the circles are located approximately at the county seats. The size of the circle indicates the total number of votes cast in the county relative to others, but scaled so that no points disappear — as of Election Night, some of Kansas’ less densely populated counties had only cast a few hundred ballots, compared to some counties that cast more than 100,000.
The colors of the circles indicate how strongly the vote was split: Brightest pink dots mean the “no” vote was very strong; brightest blue dots mean the “yes” vote was very strong. Yellow dots indicate closer votes.
Zoom in and mouse over, tap or click on a point for more information. (These numbers are the totals from Tuesday, Aug. 2, and they have changed a bit with additional advance ballots, provisional ballots and more.)
Johnson and Sedgwick counties — the only two in the state that have abortion clinics right now — voted “no” 69-31% and 58-42%, respectively.
This map below is shaded to indicate the strength of the “yes” or “no” vote in each county. It also shows the approximate relative total number of votes cast in each county, too, like the map above.
Zoom in and mouse over, tap or click on a data point for more information.
Lastly, the map below is shaded just to indicate the strength of the “yes” or “no” vote in each county. Mouse over, tap or click on a county in the map below for more information.
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Note: The polling places map was updated Saturday morning to reflect a polling place change for once precinct. The data did not change.
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage: August 2 Election
Here are the places in Douglas County where voters said ‘no’ the loudest
Christina Craig/Lawrence Times
Tricia Masenthin/Lawrence Times
