GENERAL INFORMATION
VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
POLLING LOCATION:
Your Certificate of Voter Registration identifies your ward and precinct as well as the location of your polling place. If you have lost or misplaced it, you can find your polling place information at VoterView (https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/); or call the Election Office. We will send you a replacement Certificate of Registration upon request.
If you have moved to or within the county or changed your name, you must re-register and vote in the polling place for your new ward/precinct.
VOTING HOURS: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Election Day
VOTING EQUIPMENT: Optical Scan (reads paper ballot) and Touch Screen
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE POLLING PLACE
When you arrive at the polling place, you will see one or more election workers seated at one or more tables. Each table will have a sign which indicates the ward and precinct. Go to the table for your ward/precinct. One of the election workers will check for your name and address in the poll book.
If your name and address are correct in the poll book, you must sign the poll book to receive a ballot or vote on the touch screen.
If your name and address are not in the poll book and you are a registered voter, you may be in the wrong polling place or at the wrong precinct table. The election workers can and will help you find your correct voting place.
If you are at the correct precinct table and your name and address are not in the poll book or your name or address is incorrect, you will vote a provisional ballot. Kansas law allows you to report a name and/or address change on Election Day and vote a provisional ballot. You must complete a new Voter Registration Application on a form provided to you by an election worker for your ballot to count. You must sign the Voter Affidavit on the Provisional Ballot envelope. Then sign the Provisional Ballot Poll Book to receive a paper ballot. After you mark your ballot, seal your voted ballot in the Provisional Ballot envelope and return it to the designated election worker.
If an advance ballot was mailed to you, the word advance will be written or stamped on the signature line in the poll book. All voters who have been sent an advance ballot must vote a provisional ballot at the polling place regardless of whether or not you actually voted the advance ballot. If you bring the voted or unvoted advance ballot to the polling place, it will be marked VOID and placed in a Voided Ballot Envelope.
If you are a first-time voter, you are required to provide proof of identification to an election worker. If you are voting in Wyandotte County for the first time, you are a first-time voter. If you are a former resident and have moved back to Wyandotte County, you are a first-time voter. The identification you present must contain your name and photo or your name and address. The name and address on the identification and the name and address in the poll book must be an exact match. Acceptable ID includes:
Name and photo
Current Kansas Driver’s License
Current Kansas Non-driver’s Identification Card
Current passport
Name and address
Utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government-issued document showing your current name and address. The Certificate of Voter Registration is not proof of identification.
First-time voters with required identification will sign the poll book to receive a ballot or vote on the touch screen. First-time voters without the required identification may only vote a provisional ballot. You must provide proof of identification to the Election Office before the County Canvass in order for your ballot to be counted. Election workers will provide you with a notice that announces the date and time of the County Canvass. Normally, the Canvass is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on the first Friday after the election. The Canvass is open to the public.
VOTING BY PAPER BALLOT
The principal method of voting in Wyandotte County is the paper ballot. The continuing use of paper ballots helps us to avoid long lines and waiting for voting, it gives us a readily available document to validate vote tabulation, and a visible record of voter intent.
To vote for a candidate, you must blacken (fill in) the oval to the left of the candidate’s name on the paper ballot. Use the special black felt-tip pen provided for marking the ballot. Do not use a pencil or any other pen to mark a ballot.
Normally, you will only vote for one candidate for each office on the ballot unless the ballot instructions state you can vote for two or more. For example, if the ballot instructions say “Vote for Three,” you can vote for one, for two, or for three, or for no one at all.
There may be one or more lines provided on the ballot for a “write-in candidate.” If there is a person, who you believe is a better candidate than those named on the ballot, you can write the name of your “write-in candidate” on the line provided. To vote for your write-in candidate, you must blacken the oval to the left of write-in candidate’s name. Only one name may be written on each line provided. If there are no write-in lines provided on the ballot, no write-in votes may be entered.
To vote in favor of an issue posed in a question on the ballot, you must blacken in the oval to the left of the word “yes.” To vote against an issue, you must blacken in the oval to the left of the word “no.”
If you make an error on a paper ballot, do not attempt to correct your mistake. You can obtain a replacement ballot. Write the word “spoiled” across the face of the ballot on which you have made an error using the black voting pen. Take the “spoiled” ballot to the election worker who gave you the first ballot. Place your spoiled ballot in the “spoiled ballot envelope.” The election worker will give you a replacement ballot. You can obtain no more than two replacement ballots. Please ask for assistance if you are having difficulty in marking your ballot.
TOUCH SCREEN VOTING
If you are voting a ballot on the touch screen, touching the screen in the box to the left of your choice marks the ballot, touching the screen again in the same place erases your first selection allowing you to select another choice. Once you have made your choices for each position or question on the ballot, you will view a summary screen which shows the full ballot. Any mistakes or omissions are highlighted in red. You have the opportunity at this point to go back and make any corrections. Once you are satisfied your ballot is correct, just touch the screen on the box marked “cast ballot.”
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires every jurisdiction to acquire the technology to facilitate unassisted, secret voting by the disabled. The touch screen moves us closer to making voting as accessible to the disabled voter as it already is for the not-disabled voter. However, use of the touch screen is not required for any voter. It is merely an option available to any voter who chooses to use it.
Extensive safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of every vote cast, both for the touch screen and for the paper ballot. An auditable paper trail can be produced from every touch screen machine to validate vote tabulation. While generating a paper trail from the touch screen is not immediate, it is both possible and necessary for recounts or any contest of an election. An auditable paper trail from the touch screen has already been produced for election recounts in August 2006 and April 2007.
PROVISIONAL BALLOT VOTING
The basic reasons some voters are required to vote a provisional ballot include: name not in poll book, name or address not correct in poll book; voter was sent an advance ballot by mail; or voter is a first-time voter without the required name and photo or name and address identification. While there may be some variance from election to election, statistically and historically over 70% of provisional ballots count in the final results of the election.
The principal reasons a ballot will not count include multiple ballots from the same person, a ballot cast by a deceased person or ineligible person (not registered), the failure by a first-time voter to provide the required identification, failure to complete and sign the voter affidavit and/or the new voter registration application, and vote fraud.
You can help to make sure your provisional ballot is counted by completing and signing a new voter registration application, filling in all of the required information on the Provisional Ballot envelope and signing the Voter Affidavit, signing the Provisional Ballot Poll Book, carefully marking your ballot, sealing it in the envelope, and returning it to the designated election worker. If you are a first-time voter without ID on Election Day, you must bring your proof of ID to the Election Office on Wednesday or Thursday immediately after Election Day, and before the County Canvass.
PROHIBITED CONDUCT ON ELECTION DAY
Kansas law prohibits (1) hindering another voter from voting, (2) leaving the polling place with a ballot or voter access card, or (3) approaching or standing within 3 feet of a voting table or booth unless voting or an authorized election worker.
Kansas law also prohibits the wearing or display of any clothing or signs within 250 feet of the polling place on Election Day which might be an attempt to persuade or influence eligible voters to vote for or against a particular candidate, political party, or question on the ballot.