Kansans’ long, double-sided ballots in the Nov. 8 general election may be a bit daunting. There’s a lot there, and a lot at stake.
We’ve posted a lot of our own coverage of the issues, as well as many articles from Kansas Reflector and Kansas News Service, to help readers make their decisions. But we already have more than five dozen articles posted on the topic of this election, and that’s a lot to sift through.
Here, we’ve broken coverage down by topic and race to make it easier to find the info you need to make your decisions and cast your ballot. (There may be a couple of repeats on this list, if an article covers more than one subject.)
At the bottom, you can find more resources as well as opinion pieces about this election from fellow Lawrence and Douglas County voters.
Quick voting reminders:
• All registered Kansas voters see sample ballots and find their assigned polling places by inputting their name and date of birth at this link on the Secretary of State’s website.
• If you’re voting by advance ballot, don’t forget to sign the envelope. Ballots must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, or dropped in a ballot dropbox by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
• You will need a state-issued ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, to vote in person.
• The last opportunity to vote early in person is from 8 a.m. to noon Monday, Nov. 7 at the Douglas County Elections Office, 711 W. 23rd St., Suite 1, in Lawrence (at 23rd and Louisiana streets; click here for a Google map).
• Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day — Tuesday, Nov. 8. As long as you are in line to vote at your assigned polling place by 7 p.m., you will be given the opportunity to vote.
What to expect on your ballot + how and when you can vote
(Note: Our voter guide at the link below includes some races that don’t appear in this post.)
Most Kansas voters want abortion access, but their legislators may further restrict it anyway
Kansans decisively rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion. But many conservative lawmakers will go unchallenged at the ballot box this year, allowing them to continue the push to restrict abortion access in the legislature.
Douglas County Commission: District 1 commissioner election and ballot question asking if commission should expand to 5 districts
Check out this section of our voter guide for more, but here are our key articles on these subjects:
Constitutional amendments
Judges up for retention
Kansas governor election
Schmidt blasts Kelly’s justice commission despite his affirmation of racial bias by Kansas police
Republican governor candidate Derek Schmidt’s new campaign commercials castigate Gov. Laura Kelly for creating in 2020 a Commission on Racial Equity and Justice to search for solutions to problems within Kansas law enforcement agencies, despite affirming in October 2020 that he believed racial bias was present within Kansas law enforcement.
Kansas attorney general election
Kansas secretary of state election
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives
Democrat launches biting critique during TV debate for Kansas congressional seat
Democrat Patrick Schmidt harshly criticized Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner during a televised debate Thursday for hiding on Jan. 6, 2021, while Capitol Police “were getting the s*** beat out of them,” then voting against accepting the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Misinformation and gaffes
Other resources
• See all the news coverage we’ve posted on this election, starting with the most recent articles, at this link.
• Lawrence school board members have mentioned concerns about the implications that this election and the next legislative session have for public education. Read some of their thoughts at this link.
• The Lawrence Public Library’s Civic Engagement 101 series, available to view on YouTube, aims to help voters understand the issues on the ballot and more. Check out those videos at this link.
• All registered Kansas voters can check which districts they’re in, see sample ballots and find their assigned polling places by inputting their name and date of birth at this link on the Secretary of State’s website.
• More Douglas County voting information — including ways to look up your polling place or help someone else find theirs — is available at this link.
What do fellow voters think?
Here are the opinion pieces that we’ve received (and a few republished from Kansas Reflector) regarding this election. (These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Times staff.) Check out more opinion pieces in our Community Voices section.
Clay Wirestone: The ‘blue dot’ of Lawrence, Kansas, will soon have a new congressman. No one’s talking about it. (Column)
“Lawrence, a vivid blue dot in the sea of red that is Kansas, could soon be represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by a Republican who opposes abortion rights and voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” Clay Wirestone writes in this column for Kansas Reflector.
Letter to the Times: Get informed and vote on Nov. 8
“Does your local, state, and national government represent you? In the Nov. 8 election, you can tell officials ‘good job’ and vote to reelect them or elect someone else you feel would do a better job of making our representative democracy serve the people,” Carol Williamson writes in this letter to the Times.
Letter to the Times: Kansas’ own million dollar man
”In Kansas, we don’t have a six million dollar man, but we do have our own 1.9 million dollar man. In his case, the millions of dollars represents how much Kansas taxpayers had to pay for his misguided and faulty legal work as secretary of state,” Thomas Weiss writes in this letter to the Times.
Want more? Kansas Reflector and Kansas News Service offer paywall-free coverage for all to read.
Have more questions? Reach out to the Douglas County Elections Office for questions about voting, or email us at hello (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com for other questions.
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