The counting of ballots in Sedgwick County has started in a midterm election that, for the first time in recent history, shows Kansas as a national battleground.
The highly contested U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton is considered a toss-up and could help decide control of the Senate.
The midterm statewide ballot also features a gubernatorial race between Democratic candidate Cindy Holscher and Republican Ty Masterson.
Voters in the Wichita area will also decide the U.S. House 4th District representative, two Sedgwick County Commission races and dozens of state legislative seats.
A proposed constitutional amendment on statewide ballots would specify that people without citizenship can't vote.
And voters in the Wichita school district will decide whether to approve a $615 million bond issue that would build new schools and improve others across the district.
Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater said crowds were steady at polling places Tuesday, but people did not have to wait too long to vote.
Wait times at some high-volume polling places were 30 to 45 minutes, Rainwater said.
She said turnout seems higher than most midterm elections and could surpass 2022.
"About 58,000 voters have come through so far today. It's resulting in around a 44% turnout thus far,” Rainwater said Tuesday afternoon. “I feel pretty confident we're gonna hit between 55% and 60% when it's all said and done."
Wichitan Jered Gillespie, who voted at Riverside Christian Church, said his priorities were the Wichita school bond issue and the U.S. Senate race, where he favored the Democratic challenger.
"I think it would be a good message — that we're not cattle that will just accept whatever has been going on — if Kansas flipped to blue even just once,” he said.
Retired teacher Marlene Franklin said she also voted for Hamilton. She said she wants a change in Congress but was frustrated by the avalanche of negative television ads from both sides.
"Instead of telling me who they were and what they would be voting for, they just slammed each other to where you couldn't tell anything,” Franklin said. “Neither one of them made a good showing that way."
Rick Lindsey, who voted at the Linwood Recreation Center in south Wichita, said he’s “on the conservative side of the spectrum” and voted primarily for Republicans.
“There are a few candidates on the federal and even for the state positions that I believe are too liberal for the state of Kansas, in my view,” Lindsey said.
He said the economy is his primary concern, which is why he voted for Masterson, the Republican candidate for governor.
“So that we can deliver the services that are needed to be delivered, but at the same time have cost savings,” Lindsey said of Masterson’s ability to make needed changes. “Because we've had a lot of increases.”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it planned to monitor elections in all 50 states for the first time.
Federal monitors were planned to be onsite in three Kansas counties — Sedgwick, Johnson and Wyandotte — in what is thought to be the largest monitoring effort in history.
Regina Witcher, who voted at the Urban League of Kansas, said she’s frustrated with President Donald Trump and his policies.
“Everything that the Trump administration is doing made me come out and vote today,” she said. “I don’t like what the government is doing. I don’t like ICE. I don’t like war, I don’t like the high prices.”
Finn Barker said he sees voting as his civic responsibility.
“I care about being involved in our community and doing what we can to make the world a little bit better for each one of us,” he said. “I want to be helpful to society, and I really want to contribute to making a world that my daughter can grow up in.”
Contributing: Jennifer Anima and Kami Steinle of KMUW and Jessica Pearce of The KLC Journal contributed to this report.
