Just days remain before the deadline to register to vote or update your voter registration for the upcoming primary election, which includes a constitutional amendment and some Douglas County Commission seats.
All registered voters — regardless of whether they’re affiliated with a party or not — are eligible to vote in this primary because of the constitutional amendment on the ballot.
The constitutional amendment on the ballot would change the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected. Currently, justices go through a merit-based nomination and interview process.
Proponents say the amendment would give voters a chance to elect people to the bench who align with their values, but opponents worry that it would bring politics and campaigning into the court, jeopardizing the court’s integrity and fairness. Justices are subject to retention votes every six years.
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Voters will decide two Douglas County commissioners in the Aug. 4 primary election, and a third seat will be decided in the Nov. 5 general election. One area house seat — District 10, which includes portions of central and southeastern Lawrence — will also be decided in the Democratic primary.
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You can check your voter info at myvoteinfo.voteks.org to make sure you know which districts you’re and determine whether one of these races will be on your ballot.
Tuesday, July 14 is the deadline to register to vote or update voter registration in order to cast a ballot.
Douglas County voters can register quickly or update their voter registration online until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday at KSVotes.org.
People can also update their registration by printing and filling out forms and emailing, faxing or mailing them to the Douglas County clerk’s office; find more information about that at this link.
Douglas County voters can also request an advance ballot to vote by mail online at KSVotes.org anytime through Tuesday, July 28. However, County Clerk Jamie Shew has advised that people should not wait to mail back their ballots.
A new state law has eliminated the three-day grace period that previously existed for mail ballots, so any ballot not received by the elections office by 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4 will be invalid, even if it is postmarked on time. (Read more about that at this link.) There will be ballot dropboxes set up around Lawrence and in Baldwin City, Eudora and Lecompton when advance voting begins on July 15.
Advance in-person voting will run from Wednesday, July 15 through noon Monday, Aug. 3.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Visit the Douglas County clerk’s website for more voting information.
Learn more in our voter information and articles at lawrencekstimes.com/election2026. Keep an eye out for more voter information that will be published here in the coming days.
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This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.
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Jacob Rice / Lawrence Times
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Jacob Rice / Lawrence Times
Jacob Rice / Lawrence Times
