County experiences high number of advanced voters

Ever since advance voting for the upcoming Nov. 4 election got underway on Oct. 21, voters in Johnson County have flooded the area's four polling locations, eager to cast their ballot.

The Johnson County Election Office has been working to spread the word on advance voting all year long, said election commissioner Brian Newby. To him, the busy polls and packed parking lots are a sign that their efforts didn't go to waste.

"We expected it to increase," he said, of advance voter turnout. "Now, it's going to be up about 25-percent over (the 2004 presidential election), and I think that's good. That would tell me that the effort we made was successful."

Johnson County is currently home to over 360,000 registered voters, and Newby said an 80-percent rate of voter turnout was a possibility. Such a figure would be a five-percent increase over the 2004 presidential election, when 75-percent of registered voters in Johnson County showed up at the polls.

An increased emphasis on advance voting helps streamline the election process in a number of ways. First and foremost, getting as many early votes as possible would help eliminate some of the rush on Nov. 4.

Despite having 284 polling locations throughout the county ready to go on Election Day, Newby said the local voting population could make use of as many as 450 – were the facilities available.

At this point, it's getting difficult to find new homes for voting booths.

"Having advance voting kind of helps level that out, because it's all we can do to get 284," he said. "The trend nationwide, even in Kansas, is to reduce polling places. So over time we'll probably see more advance voting locations and fewer polling places."

Still, an effort to be socially conscious isn't the only reason for the high level of response. Many voters view the 2008 presidential election as possibly the most critical of its kind in recent memory, and interest is reaching new heights with each passing day.

This is one election, it seems, where voters want to make sure that theirs is one that counts.

"I think it's the economy and the war, " said Tanya McGie, who cast her vote at the Election Office on Oct. 27. "I think it's bringing everybody out."

The interest has filtered down to the youngest generation of voters, too, though Newby maintained that those voting in their first presidential election could usually be counted on to find their way to the polls. It wasn't until the mid-20s when some drop-off began to occur.

However, are things different with this particular election?

"At least in my generation, people who graduated when I graduated, there's more interest in it right now," said Mike Dressler, a recent graduate from the University of Kansas, and another advance voter. "I don't know if it's just us getting a little older, having a little more at stake than we did when we were 18 and 22, but it's been an extreme difference from in the past."

Advance voting will run until Nov. 1. For more information, or to find a Nov. 4 polling location, visit the Johnson County Election Office Web site at www.jocoelection.org, or call 782-3441.