Early voting in Saline County climbs as Election Day nears
Photo: Lorie Shaull / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
More than 4,100 Saline County voters had cast early in-person ballots through Wednesday, Oct. 28, with less than a week left before the Nov. 3 general election.
That figure comes from Kansas Secretary of State advance voting data, compiled by IKE Lab, a nonpartisan election data project at Wichita State University. It shows 4,177 in-person advance ballots cast in the county, up from 530 in the report dated Oct. 20.
Of the in-person voters, 2,314 were registered Republicans, 1,245 were Democrats and 594 were unaffiliated.
Mail voting is also moving. Of 1,472 advance mail ballots sent to Saline County voters, 964 had been returned, or about 65.5%. IKE Lab notes that counties can fall behind in processing mail ballots, so its numbers may not match the county's exact count.
Advance voting continues at the City-County Building, 300 W. Ash St., on these days:
- Friday, Oct. 30: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 2: 8 a.m. to noon
Saline County restored its original Saturday hours after President Donald Trump's planned Salina rally was canceled. Salina311 emailed Saline County Clerk Tammy Arnold on Thursday morning to ask whether advance voting hours would return to normal after the cancellation. She had not responded as of Thursday night. The county later announced the original Saturday hours in a release.
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. Kansas law requires mailed ballots to arrive by the close of polls on Election Day. However, according to Saline County, a Douglas County court order requires counties to count ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive by the last mail delivery on the Friday after the election.
This story will be updated.
