by Mary Rupert
A new advanced voting facility opened Saturday morning at the Kansas Speedway, near the intersection of I-70 and I-435 in Wyandotte County.
Shortly after a ribbon-cutting ceremony, voters began to cast their ballots for the primary election. Voting takes places in a Speedway building that is north of the 110th exit on I-70, on the south side of the Kansas Speedway.
Election Commissioner Bruce Newby said voters now have a new satellite voting center, as well as some existing options, to vote in the primary election. Advance voting also will take place during office hours at the Wyandotte County Election Office, 850 State Ave.; and by mail. Voters may turn in their advance ballots at the new satellite voting center, as well as at the election office, he said. Voting also will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 5, at the regular polling places.
The new satellite voting facility will offer only touch-screen voting, Newby said. All Wyandotte County registered voters may vote there. There are 228 different ballot styles in Wyandotte County for the primary, according to the voters’ districts, so having paper ballots there would be difficult, he added.
Being close to both I-70 and I-435, the new satellite voting center is very accessible for voters, he added, and it has ample parking.
“We look for this site to be the start of something good in Wyandotte County,” Newby said. “We hope to repeat this in every election from now on.”
When the election office was located at the former courthouse annex about eight years ago, there were a lot of advance voters there, Newby said. Many of those voters did not vote in advance when the election office moved to 850 State Ave.
“I’m hoping to regain those advance voters from the west side that we lost,” he said.
As of Friday, July 25, the election office had received back a little more than 100 advance ballots for the primary election.
Newby said he hopes there will be a lot of interest in this upcoming election. There are contests in both the Democratic and Republican primaries this year. There is a three-way race in the Democratic primary and a five-way race in the Republican primary. “So their vote matters,” he said.
Besides state and federal candidates, there is a three-candidate Wyandotte County judge race in the Democratic primary, and an Edwardsville city sales tax on the primary ballot. Among the many interesting contests on the Republican side are five candidates running for state insurance commissioner. U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts faces heavy primary opposition from a Leawood doctor. In the Democratic primary, Kelly Kultala and Reginald Marselus are running for the U.S. House, 3rd District.
The new advance voting facility at Kansas Speedway will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 26; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, July 28, through Friday, Aug. 1; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2. There are signs directing voters to the polling place.
For more information on elections, visit www.electionwycokck.org or call 913-573-8500.
