Whoever becomes the next president will have to tackle a range of critical issues, from filling anticipated vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court to finding a solution to rising health care costs.
And that's why it's especially important to vote in this year's presidential election, said U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.
"I think everybody that runs for office says it's a crossroads election — at least that's been my experience," he said. "But this one really is. Because I think the two candidates for president, and the stakes involved in regards to the issues, there is a very clear difference."
A Dodge City Republican, Roberts took advantage of Ford County's advance-voting service to cast his ballot on Monday in a media opportunity designed to promote the service.
A number of Ford County residents cast ballots in the lobby of the Ford County Government Center on Monday, the last day that advance voting was available before today's general election. A small line of people stood patiently in the lobby between 10:30 a.m. and noon, waiting until one of the three voting booths was open.
Dodge City resident Becky Gleason normally votes on Election Day, but she had heard that election officials were predicting long lines at the polls this year. So, she said, she decided to seize the opportunity and cast an advance ballot while the service was still available.
"I have a break today, and somebody told me that we could vote early and it was still going on," she said. "So I decided to take advantage of it."
Other voters also said they decided to cast advance ballots to avoid waiting at the polls or because they had other commitments on Election Day.
"By watching television, there's going to be a large turnout all over the country, so I thought I'd just come down here and get it done early," said Dodge City resident Richard Cecil. "Beat the rush."
Cecil said he would probably use the service in future elections, primarily because it's more convenient.
Ford County clerk Vicki Wells said her office mailed out 936 advance ballots — a figure that did not include ballots sent to people who are permanently disabled and cannot get to the polls. She said between 160 and 170 voters are on the permanent advance ballot list.
Wells also said that 1,775 people, or about 17 percent of the county's registered voters, had cast advance ballots at the Government Center.
"It was a lot better than I expected, but not as good as I hoped," she said. "I always expect more from advance voting because it's so convenient."
The Kansas secretary of state's office reported that 283,294 mailed ballots have been returned so far, and 136,356 voters across the state have cast advance ballots in person.
"We were expecting to exceed 300,000, certainly, but this is quite a bit higher than that," said public information officer Stephanie Meyer. "The previous record was set in 2004, and we had just over 245,000 advance votes. So this is a pretty substantial jump."
Meyer said a number of factors sparked people's interest in advance voting, including the political parties' get-out-the-vote campaigns, counties' educational efforts and predictions of a large voter turnout today.
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.
DODGE CITY —
