Douglas County saw a record number of early voters ahead of Tuesday, and more folks showed up at the polls for Election Day, some excited to participate in the process for the first time.

Volunteer poll workers at the Douglas County Human Services Building on Tuesday said the location was seeing a large number of first-time voters. Each time a first-time voter checked in, volunteers celebrated them with a cheer.

Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Find out how to cast your ballot at this link, and find more information about the election at the links below this article.

Leanna Diaz, 19, is a University of Kansas sophomore and a first-time voter this year.

A proponent of public education, specifically supporting students with disabilities and providing free universal school lunches, Diaz is seeking a progressive future.

“I’m very scared, just because a lot of things are at stake, and I’m really nervous to see how it turns out and how the future is going to be for the next four years,” Diaz said. “I’m not sure if I want children someday, but I look at a perspective that if I had a future child, what kind of life I would want them to be living in. So that’s what I really based my vote off of.”

Keziah PineWalker, Hunkpapa, and her husband Luke Walker, Seminole and Muskogee, voted together Tuesday at the Human Services Building, bringing along their 3-year-old daughter. 

PineWalker, 26, said “the ability to choose and have options” weighed heavily on her this election season.

Walker, 28, said he trusts the voting system and hopes it can continue being a democratic process for generations to come. He also hopes for more unity.

“I want people to have good relationships with each other and I don’t want to ostracize certain groups,” Walker said. “I think people can ostracize an individual, maybe in extreme cases, but to ostracize whole groups, that’s egregious. I don’t want to see that on a national stage.”

At approximately 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, around 200 ballots had been submitted at the Human Services Building. Volunteers said there was a bit of a line early in the morning, but traffic had become more steady.

Heading inside the building to vote Tuesday morning was Jocelyn Williams, 47. With enthusiasm in her steps, she snapped a few selfies on her phone outside to remember the moment.

She said although she weighed both the Democratic and Republican nominees, she’s optimistic that Vice President Kamala Harris will work for all people.

“I just feel like women have been running the show behind the scenes all the time, and now women get to be front and center with their faces actually on the scene,” Williams said. “It just bothers me when people say, ‘A woman can’t.’”

Williams called out uncertainties ahead.

“When have we ever had a perfect president?” Williams said. “And then when have we ever had a president where we knew exactly what he was gonna do? You know, you’re always taking a chance, like of course, they could be up there rallying and saying one thing, but who knows the truth until it starts happening in office?”

Cadence Smith, KU sophomore, said she enjoyed being part of the elections process for the first time.

Growing up on a farm in a small Kansas town gave Smith a perspective that aims to consider “the smaller people rather than the large people,” she said.

Local farmers were on the top of her mind as she voted Tuesday.

“My generation, definitely our vote matters towards this election,” Smith, 19, said. “And what’s nice is moving to college, you really see the impact that farmers have on everyone else, and it’s kind of important for me and for the future that everyone just considers those kinds of things — like where do you get the supplies you need to live?”

Richard Showalter, 45, said he’s hopeful change will come for the better, which may mean eventually challenging current systems.

“I definitely think there should be a way to update the way people represent themselves in the parties, or maybe get away from the party system and actually find people into the position instead of having to choose between the lesser of two evils,” Showalter said.

Nina W, who requested to go by her nickname and last name initial, became a first-time voter Tuesday. She sported a “voting for the convicted felon” T-shirt outside the Flory Meeting Hall afterward.

“The last four years have sucked, and I want my kids and my grandbaby to have a good future,” Nina, 46, said. “My dad’s 89 years old and he’s never known our country to be like this. I mean, he was in the Navy, he’s almost 90 — he’s never known the country to be like this. The country was so much safer and cheaper and just a happier place when Trump was in office.”

Although she’s hopeful that former president Donald Trump is victorious, Nina said any result will bring “a whole different kind of divided” than what’s typical of a presidential election year.

Volunteer polling workers at the Flory Meeting Hall said a line had formed outside the building after it opened to voters at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Volunteer Kaila Colyott said the team was able to get the line of people through in about 13 minutes, and more than 100 ballots were submitted there before 8 a.m. By around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, 328 ballots were collected.

Jordan Wise, 36, praised the polling workers at Flory Meeting Hall, saying voting went smoothly and “they were thorough” so that he could get in and out quickly.

He said the economy was a top issue influencing the way he voted this election year.

“Things aren’t easy for a lot of people, so, you know, you’d like to think that your vote could make some kind of difference, but it’s hard to say if it actually does or not, especially in Kansas.”

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The primary polling location in North Lawrence, Union Pacific Depot, saw steady traffic Tuesday, according to volunteer polling workers there. They said 40 to 45% of the precinct, which represents slightly more than 1,700 registered voters, voted early in the election.

Virginia Shepard, 78, wanted to cast her ballot in-person, as she always has as a lifelong Democrat.

She said this election season, her top concerns were around addressing homelessness and lowering financial burdens for senior citizens.

Having voted in several presidential elections before, Shepard agreed this one hits a little different.

“I’m glad that (Harris is) a person of color and she’s a woman, but from my perspective, I don’t care what color she is, as long as she does what she says she’s going to do for the community, for the world,” Shepard said.

“She’s not just for the Democrats, she’s not just for whoever, but I strongly believe in what she said she’s going to do, she’s going to do it. But I feel like this: We know that whoever is president, or even vice president, they can say what they’re going to do but at the last minute, it has to be passed and has to be signed. So I feel like you can’t blame them if it doesn’t go through.”

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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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