BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Voters gathered outside at the Tonganoxie VFW while spread 6-feet apart to hear from their candidates in Kansas Senate District 3 — Tom Holland and Willie Dove.
But this event was unique to the 2020 campaign season, as candidates worked to balance connecting with constituents and abiding by social distancing guidelines.
“There have been fewer forums during the campaign and those have all been pretty much, to date, virtual,” said Holland, the Democratic incumbent in District 3.
Candidates have made adjustments over the past several months to make sure their voices are heard throughout this election season, from using social media more than usual to promoting absentee ballots.
For Holland, connecting with voters would have been much more difficult without access to social media amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Over time, you know, campaigns have gotten more sophisticated in servicing a much more heavy reliance on social media,” he said.
Dove, who is Holland’s Republican opponent, could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Other candidates have found different ways to connect with constituents. Lance Neelly is running unopposed for District 42 representative, but during the Republican primary, he used text messages to reach his voters — an easy and less expensive alternative to mailers.
Douglas County also saw a significant increase in demand for absentee ballots as voters prepare to make their voices heard amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is no comparison,” Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said of the number of absentee ballot requests he’s received.
Douglas County broke its record number of ballots by mail during the 2018 midterms at 13,000. Two years later, that’s nearly doubled. Shew said he’s received around 24,000 ballot requests as of mid-September.
At the national level, the mail-in voting process has come under fire in campaign rhetoric. However, national experts and election officials say voter fraud is rare.
Shew said while he doesn’t like to speak in absolutes, the clerk’s office has long had checks in place to ensure fraudulent ballots are caught and stopped.
“There's actually quite a few processes that are in place to make sure that not only are we verifying that that ballot is yours, but that you only get to vote once,” Shew said.
Additionally, Kansas voters now have a way of tracking their ballot through the mail-in process with a new website created by the Kansas Secretary of State’s office. Residents can insert their voter information on the secretary of state’s website to see the status of their ballot and know when it is received by their county clerk’s office.
Kansas is one of 39 states with this available for voters. Voters can request advanced ballots until Oct. 27, and must be postmarked on or before election day.
Douglas County Commission candidate Shannon Reid, a Democrat running unopposed in District 2, said she hopes voters see the weight their voice holds in local elections and will participate in the election this year.
“I have been talking with voters a lot about wanting to encourage them to feel empowered to participate in what’s happening in their own community,” she said. “Even if they may not have confidence in other candidates at those higher-level elections, it’s still possible to cast your ballot and vote for local elections and know that those people represent you directly.”
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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