The Sedgwick County Board of Canvassers met Thursday to approve that votes on provisional ballots from the Nov. 8 general election be counted.
A provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there are questions about a voter's eligibility. Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman says there were around 5,000 provisional ballots from the general election that were yet to be counted at the beginning of the meeting. The Board of Canvassers voted unanimously to allow those votes to be tabulated.
A record number of write-in votes were cast this election: more than 40,000. Lehman says she expects that number to increase following the canvass.
Among 2,7000 votes not counted during the canvass, Lehman says only 2150 were actually voted ballots.
"The rest were returned undeliverable by the post office," she says.
According to Lehman, there were 47 provisional ballots cast by individuals who did not provide an ID or proof of citizenship by the Election Day deadline. In accordance with state law, those ballots were not counted.
Voter turnout in Sedgwick County was about 64 percent for the general election, three-and-half times higher than turnout for the August primary.
The Board of Canvassers will reconvene on Monday, Nov. 21, to go over the results.
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