The Command Post
2004 US Presidential Election
« Huge Turnout Expected | Main | Current Poll Shows Gubernatorial Race Tied »
November 01, 2004
Kansas | Five federal seats open, record turnout expected

There are five federal seats open in Kansas: one of Kansas’ two Senate seats, held by Sen. Sam Brownback ®; and all four of Kansas’ House seats, held by Rep. Jerry Moran (R-1st), Rep. Jim Ryun (R-2nd), Rep. Dennis Moore (D-3rd), and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-4th).

Of these, the most hotly contested are the 2nd and 3rd districts. Rep. Ryun is being challenged by Democrat Nancy Boyda, and Rep. Moore is being challenged by Republican Kris Kobach, a former deputy of US Attorney General John Ashcroft. Both races (but especially the 2nd district) have been characterized by a great deal of nastiness on both sides. The Lawrence Journal-World has a good collection of stories about both of these races.

Also, Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh is predicting record turnout, as this Topeka Capitol-Journal article notes (free registration required, use login: evolution, pwd: nextstep).

Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh is predicting record voter turnout for the general election.

Thornburgh said a “perfect storm” of factors will drive more Kansans than ever to the polls — a presidential race between two very different candidates, a slew of local ballot initiatives, several large voter registration drives and an increased interest in advanced voting.

According to figures released Thursday, Kansas has 1.6 million registered voters. Of those, Thornburgh expects 1,288,200 voters will cast ballots Tuesday — 200,000 more than in the 2000 general election.

That number also would be more than the record 1,161,927 voters who turned out in 1992. That election featured prominent third-party candidate Ross Perot.

[Cross-posted to evolution. Further information and opinion can be found there as well.]



Posted by J. Dunavin at November 1, 2004 07:46 PM | TrackBack
Comments
Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.


Remember me?

(You may use HTML tags for style)