Post updated at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5:

Voters are deciding four of five Douglas County Commission seats and the county’s top prosecutor position.

Here are the returns thus far as the elections office has processed thousands of votes cast Tuesday.

Additional ballots will still be added to these vote totals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. No results are official until the general election canvass, which is set for 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 18. The canvass is open to the public at the elections office, 711 W. 23rd St. Suite 1 in Lawrence.

Douglas County Commission

This election is adding two commissioners. Douglas County voters in 2022 voted by a margin of roughly 61% to 39% to expand the commission from three to five seats.

Here’s how the races break down:

• District 2: Incumbent Democrat Shannon Reid faces a challenger in Independent Brad Chun.
• District 3: Incumbent Democrat Karen Willey faces a challenger in Republican Pam McDermott.
• District 4: Democrat Gene Dorsey, Libertarian Steve Jacob and Republican Timothy Bruce are facing off to represent this new district.
• District 5: Democrat Erica Anderson, Libertarian Kirsten Kuhn and Republican Rich Lorenzo are facing off to represent this new district.

With most of the votes counted, it appeared Reid and Willey were both poised to keep their seats and Democratic candidates Dorsey and Anderson held strong leads for Districts 4 and 5, respectively.

“It’s been a long campaign, and I’m glad it’s over. The only problem is now the harder work starts, being on the commission,” Dorsey said. “So I guess I’m looking forward to it.” 

Dorsey said he has been following the commission and had reached out to build relationships with other candidates so he was ready to get to work no matter who won.

Reid said she was feeling grateful, but after she won her last general election by just a handful of votes, she learned to wait until all votes were counted.

“I’m really looking forward to what’s possible in terms of coalition building with five of us,” Reid said, referring to the expanded commission. “That means that I’ll be able to have conversations outside of our public meetings and formal business discussions, and be able to build coalition with one or two commissioners about things that are really important. So I’m excited to learn more about my fellow commissioners in that way, and be able to really see what’s possible to strengthen with more of us and more representation.”

You can check which district you’re in by visiting myvoteinfo.voteks.org. 

Douglas County district attorney

Democrat Dakota Loomis ousted incumbent Suzanne Valdez in the August primary. He and Republican Mike Warner are facing off in the general election.

With most precincts reporting, Loomis held nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Other Douglas County races

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister, Treasurer Adam Rains and Register of Deeds Kent Brown each won their Democratic primary elections in 2020 and ran unopposed in the general election that year. All three ran unopposed this year.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew, also a Democrat, was first elected in 2004. He has not faced an opponent since ’04, and he ran this year for his sixth term.

Keep an eye on this page and LawrenceKSTimes.com for more election coverage and updates.

This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.

If you have news tips, questions, comments, concerns, compliments or corrections for our team, please reach out and let us know what’s on your mind. Email us at Hello@LawrenceKSTimes.com, or find more contact info and a quick contact form at LawrenceKSTimes.com/contact.

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