Primary voter turnout better than expected overall, but WyCo's turnout ranked lowest

Archive for Wednesday, August 8, 2012

August 8, 2012

Turnout for Tuesday's primary election was 23.5 percent of all voters registered in Kansas, Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced, but Wyandotte County's turnout fell far below.

A total of 403,918 Kansans cast ballots, exceeding the 18 percent Kobach predicted last week. That prediction was principally based on the flow of advanced ballots received as of five days before the primary.

“I am delighted that more Kansas voters participated than we expected,” said Kobach. “Although I would prefer to see turnout much higher than 23.5 percent, it is nevertheless good news that Kansas voters turned out in higher numbers than we estimated.”

But Wyandotte County's totals were nowhere near the average, with just 11.3 percent voter turnout. That gave it the lowest voter participation in the state.

The county with the highest turnout was Greeley County with 64.7 percent.

Kobach credited the heavily contested Senate races across the state for the higher number of ballots cast. Participation rates varied widely from county to county and from district to district. Where there was a hotly contested race, turnout was usually considerably higher than where there was not.

The highest population counties had the following turnout results: Johnson County with 17.1 percent, Sedgwick County with 24.8 percent, Shawnee County with 27.8 percent and Wyandotte County with 11.3 percent.