Count Harold Waisblum of Overland Park among the thousands of Kansans who showed up Tuesday to vote on the state’s first day of in-person advance voting.
Waisblum, 81, has been voting for the last 60 years and was first in line at Metcalf South Shopping Center, one of three satellite locations for advance voting in Johnson County.
"I had breakfast, and I thought I’d come on down and vote," said Waisblum.
Others opted to vote before dinner, creating lines at some polling places.
Brian Newby, county election commissioner, estimated that his office would have mailed out about 55,000 mail-in advance ballots by the end of today.
He said he thought that about 120,000 county residents will have voted in advance, by mail or in person, before Nov. 4. That would be an increase of 20,000 people from the 2004 presidential election.
Newby said he thought that 75 percent of the county’s registered voters would cast ballots in these elections, which would equal the turnout four years ago. But he said the percentage of advance voters should be higher than last time, possibly 40 percent of the total number of county voters.
The question Newby was still asking was whether the total turnout could possibly reach 80 percent.
Read the complete story at kansascity.com