‘Heavy voter engagement’ means lines in Olathe on last day of early Kan. voting

Police are directing heavy traffic Monday at the only place in Johnson County still accepting early midterm ballots.

Vehicles were backed up to 127th Street as people waited to vote at the election office at 2101 E. Kansas City Road in Olathe.

The site will remain open until noon. People in line at the building and waiting to get into the parking lot will be allowed to vote, said Nathan Carter of the election office.

Johnson County Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker said the heavy turnout on the last day of early voting was not unexpected or unusual. The average wait time once inside the building was just under 10 minutes, he said around 10 a.m. However, as more people showed later in the morning, the wait lengthened to about 50 minutes.

“We’ve just had high voter interest,” Metsker said. “I would call this heavy voter engagement. We are trying to be expeditious and I think we’re doing that.”

Voter registration in Johnson County hit a record this year of 419,000.

Election officials had six early polling locations open for 12 days, up from four in the 2016 election. Logistics to prepare for regular voting Tuesday required them to close all but the election office on Monday, Metsker said.

On Tuesday there will be 195 polling locations in Johnson County staffed by 1,800 election workers.

“We will be just fine,” Metsker predicted.

Officials say new software for Johnson County voting machines is expected to avoid problems that caused delays in the Aug. 7 primary.

Polls in Kansas are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Polls in Missouri are open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This story was originally published November 5, 2018 at 10:23 AM.