<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596642607358.jpeg" alt="Kansas election offices have been flooded with advance voting ballots as COVID-19 and competitive races prompted people to express themselves in a safely before Election Day on Tuesday. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Kansas election offices have been flooded with advance voting ballots as COVID-19 and competitive races prompted people to express themselves in a safely before Election Day on Tuesday. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER &amp; NOAH TABORDA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/08/04/kansas-voters-pivot-to-advance-by-mail-voting-amid-covid-19/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Six times the 
number of advance by-mail ballots have been returned to local election 
offices in Kansas compared to the 2016 and 2018 primary elections with 
the surge in popularity tied to competitive races and the pandemic.Secretary of State Scott 
Schwab, who serves as the state’s top elections officer, said 159,000 
voters had submitted advance ballots by mail. That compared to 26,917 
two years ago in the primary and 26,795 four years ago in the summer 
election. There has been a narrow partisan split in the returns: 
Democrats, 81,208; Republicans, 77,372; Libertarian, nine.“Despite the ongoing 
pandemic, we are pleased with the number of Kansas voters who have 
exercised their right to vote through advance by mail ballots and 
advance in-person voting,” Schwab said. “We encourage those who have not
 voted to do so on Tuesday.”As of Friday, 314,788 
advance mail-in ballots had been sent to Kansans. The interest among 
potential voters vastly exceeded request totals from the previous two 
primary elections, with 51,211 forwarded in the same period in 2018 and 
53,387 in 2016.Schwab predicted 28 
percent of 1.8 million registered Kansas voters would take part in the 
primary. In 2018, 27 percent or 487,000 voted in the primary. His 
prediction was based on historical turnout data, advance voting figures,
 registered voters in Kansas and competitive races capable of driving 
turnout. The secretary of state’s office said the pandemic created 
unique conditions not present in prior elections.Due to enhanced COVID-19 
safety precautions and historically high advance voting numbers, 
election returns may be delayed Tuesday evening of the primary election.
 Voters have been asked to resolve intense GOP primary elections for 
U.S. Senate and three of four U.S. House districts, in addition to 
hundreds of statehouse and local election contests.<h2>The county counting</h2>Despite
 a record number of mail-in ballot requests, Johnson County election 
commissioner Connie Schmidt said pre-emptive measures by the election 
office has given staff time to process the votes. An application for a mail-in ballot was sent to every voter in that county for the first time, Schmidt said.“It
 was sort of our way of taking control of the potential of having many 
people wanting to vote by mail,” she said. “Those started coming back to
 our office around the first of June so we’ve had plenty of time 
built-in to process the number of ballots.”Johnson
 County distributed 106,000 ballots and received about 70,000 back. 
State law permits county election officials to scan the ballots in 
advance, but not tabulate those results until polling stations close at 7
 p.m. Tuesday.In Finney County, election
 officer Dori Munyan said 282 of the 457 mail-in ballots sent to 
potential voters were put through counters. In the 2016 primary election, Munyan said, Finney County only received 100 mail-in ballots. In 2018, they received 84.Jamie
 Doss, Saline county clerk, said they’ve been having an advanced-mail 
review board come in daily to process the ballots as they came. The 
county mailed 4,891 advanced ballots to constituents and received 3,328 
in return, which was three times the normal volume.“We
 brought in some extra poll workers to help with the process of getting 
the mail out and receiving it back,” Doss said. “Hopefully by 7 p.m. or 
shortly after we will have a count on our advanced ballots.”Wyandotte
 County election commissioner Bruce Newby didn’t expect problems 
processing the flood of primary votes. Typically, the county receives 
around 5,000 mail-in ballot requests, but forwarded more than 11,600 to 
voters for the August election. On Monday, he said 7,700 had been 
returned. Work on other mail-in votes for school bonds, for example, 
have given his staff a comfort level with advanced voting.“Voting
 by mail is a piece of cake for us,” Newby said. “It would take an 
astronomical number of votes for us to start having any problems.”In Douglas County, 
election commissioner Jamie Shew said nearly 12,000 of the 21,000 
advanced ballots had been returned. The record total of advance mail 
voting was in November 2018 with about 13,000 ballots, and Shew expected
 to surpass that figure due to keen interest in a handful of contested 
elections and apprehension about entering polling stations during the 
pandemic.“This is an election where nothing is as expected,” he said.Advance by mail ballots 
must be postmarked on or before the date of the election and received in
 the local election office by 5:00 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7. After the 
initial counts on Tuesday, election officials will prepare revised 
totals Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.<h2>In-person advance</h2>Schwab said Kansans 
interested in advance voting could do so in person until noon Monday. As
 of Friday, he said, 30,762 people had taken advantage of that option. 
More than two-thirds of those voters were Republicans. In 2018, a 
presidential election year, 40,406 advance in-person ballots were cast. 
The figure for the 2016 primary election was 28,452.“Our priority has been, 
and will continue to be, to maintain balance in protecting the health 
and safety of Kansas voters and election workers while also ensuring the
 security of Kansas elections. If you feel safe going to the grocery 
store, you should feel safe to vote,” Schwab said.In light of COVID-19, he said Kansas voters Tuesday should follow safety protocols recommended by health professionals.He said voters should 
expect increased distance between voting booths, greater distance in 
interactions with election workers and frequent sanitizing of election 
equipment. No voter will be turned away for wearing, or not wearing, a 
mask, he said.Although state law 
requires Kansas voters to show photo identification when casting a vote 
in-person, Executive Order 20-55 will allow voters to use driver’s 
licenses or identification cards that expired between March 12, 2020, 
and Sept. 15, 2020, in the primary and general election.

Kan. voters pivot to advance by-mail voting amid COVID-19