Johnson Countians Stay Home For Spring Vote On Schools, City Officials

By • Apr 6, 2011
  • Student election worker Susie McClannahan worked the polls from 6AM to 7PM yesterday. She doodled pictures of animals to keep from getting bored. Photo by Laura Ziegler

Johnson County, Kansas – With dozens of elections for council seats, mayors, school boards, and Community College trustees, officials reported a surprising lack of voters. While spring elections are always quiet, election commissioner Brian Newby said a lot of money and attention went toward these races. He said he expected more concern, given the urgency of city and school funding issues.

The stream of voters was steady but slow in Johnson County, according to reports from polls throughout the day. An hour before closing time, at a typically busy polling place in Prairie Village, there was but a trickle of voters --- one at a time.

On his way home from the election board at an early 9 P.M. last night, commissioner Newby said the 9.7% turnout was typical of spring primaries, not spring general elections.

"I'd have to say this is probably the lowest turnout for a countywide election in the spring for probably at least 9 years."

Places that saw relatively high turnout included Shawnee Mission for some school board races, Gardner for some council races, and countywide for 3 trustees to the Johnson County Community College.