State Voters Swarm Polling Locations

By Tim Carpenter, Allison Kite, Anna Kaminski and Max McCoy, Kansas Reflector

LECOMPTON — Paola resident Cameron Mott, a registered Republican for more than half a century, paid special attention to the 2024 election cycle.

His attentiveness wasn’t anchored in city council, county commission, state legislative or congressional contests dotting the Tuesday ballot. He was primarily invested in outcome of the presidential showdown between Republican Donald Trump, who prevailed in 2016 and lost in 2020, and Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice president who stepped into the void created when President Joe Biden withdrew under pressure.

“I voted for Harris, and I’m a registered Republican since 1972,” he said. “It’s just Trump. He was a total disaster. He wasn’t qualified and never should have been president. I never saw any behavior that was presidential.”

Mott voted by advance ballot and was relaxing on Election Day at a Lecompton playground with Spring Hill’s Martha Heavilin and her 2-year-old son, Rubin. Voters flowed in an out of the nearby polling station in Lecompton, just a stone’s throw from Constitution Hall that played a role in the Bleeding Kansas crisis over slavery.

Heavilin, a registered Democrat since 18 years of age, said she was dedicated to exercising her right to vote. That sentiment acknowledged every vote mattered regardless of outcome, she said. In this election, Heavilin said, she thought it was important to cast a vote for U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, the Democrat who serves the 3rd District covering Johnson, Anderson, Franklin and Miami counties and half of Wyandotte County in the Kansas City area.

“I was keen to keep Sharice Davids in office,” Heavilin said. “I find her incredibly responsive to people. I tend to vote blue, but I have two children. The last pregnancy got a little scary at the end. For any woman to be pregnant and want to end that pregnancy for valid reasons and not be able to is scary.”

Abortion took center stage in the reelection campaign of Davids, an advocate for abortion rights. She was challenged by Republican Prasanth Reddy, a physician endorsed by the Kansans for Life PAC.

In the 2024 election cycle in Kansas, voters will determine the 125 members of the Kansas House and 40 members of the Kansas Senate. The state will elect four members to the U.S. House, including at least one newcomer because U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner decided not to seek reelection in the 2nd District. In addition, Kansans were asked to make decisions on local ballot issues, city and county commission races and judicial retention decisions.

Brent Smith of Lenexa said he split his ticket by voting for Harris for president, but Republicans for Congress and the Legislature. Smith said he’s a fiscally conservative independent voter and has never cast a ballot for Trump. Smith said Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are a “better fit.”

Project 2025 and Trump

In Johnson County, the presidential election also loomed large as issues from abortion to border security and democracy itself were on voters’ minds.

Brittany Nicholson, 38, joined her son Darrius Comeaux, 20, as he voted for the first time. Nicholson cajoled Comeaux into posing for a photo as they left the Roeland Park Community Center, both having voted for Harris for president.

“Democracy,” Nicholson said. “That was really the most pressing issue for me.”

Nicholson said she also was concerned about Project 2025, a wide-ranging policy document published by a conservative think tank. While Trump has denied involvement in producing the document, many former Trump staffers contributed to it. Nicholson said she likes that Harris has proposed helping first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 toward a down payment.

Calley Saye, 47, said she voted a straight Democratic ticket. She said she “can’t stand Donald Trump.”

“I think he is the worst thing that’s ever happened to our country,” Saye said, “and I would really like to see someone decent in office. And I’m excited about having a female president.”

Saye said while the presidential race was her biggest concern, she was excited to cast her vote for down-ballot Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Davids. Saye said she felt strongly that women should have the right to seek an abortion.

“It’s kind of sad that we’re going back in time,” Saye said.

In August 2022, Kansas voters unexpectedly rejected by a wide margin a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have nullified a Kansas Supreme Court decision that identified a fundamental right in the state’s Bill of Rights granting women the right to end a pregnancy. This constitutional right remained in Kansas after repeal by the U.S. Supreme Court of the landmark precedent of Roe v. Wade that granted abortion rights nationally.

In Lawrence, Adela Solis took a break from work to outline reasons it was important for Kansans to express themselves at the ballot box. She took the opportunity to vote on local ballot questions about reforming the size and management structure of the city commissioner. She voted on a measure that would dedicate tax dollars to housing issues.

But it was the diminishing of abortion rights across the United States that served as a decisive motivator.

“The fact that women are moving backwards,” Solis said. “And that there are some men out there who think that’s okay. It’s so egregiously awful. I thought Puritanism ended.”

Skepticism about Harris

Abortion was similarly top-of-mind for voters who selected Trump for president.

Hannah Lackamp, 22, voted for Trump in Lenexa with abortion on her list of concerns. She voted for him four years ago in the first presidential election after she turned 18.

“I don’t want to kill babies,” Lackamp said. “That’s kind of like my biggest thing.”

Tiffany and Noah Strain, both 30, walked to the polls in Roeland Park with their four children and cast ballots for Trump and down-ballot Republicans, driven primarily by their opposition to abortion.

“We value life,” Noah Strain said. “… If you don’t value that sort of life at that level, then everything else just doesn’t really matter.”

Beyond that, they said, the former president was better for the economy. Tiffany Strain said it’s difficult to know what Harris’ policies are other than opposing Trump.

“Some things that really bother me about (Harris),” she said, “are that she’s really into the pathos arguments. It’s all about feelings. It’s all about how she sounds rather than the actual things she’s talking about.”

The couple said they voted for Evan McMullin in 2016, who waged a write-in campaign, because they were skeptical of Trump. But Trump’s four years in office persuaded them to vote for him in his first reelection bid in 2020.

In Emporia, after Sandy and Keith Carnes cast their votes at White Auditorium, Keith Carnes said he voted “Republican all the way.”

“I did it because I don’t want another four years like this,” Carnes said. “We need a change.”

Sandy Carnes said there was no disagreement in their household over politics and that she also turned out to vote for Trump. But, she said, she would accept the choice voters make, no matter who wins.

“Whatever the results, I will support them as best I can,” she said.

Leavenworth County vibe

In Tonganoxie, voters left polling cubicles inside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church proud of doing their civic duty. There were expressions of anxiety and optimism about outcomes on Election Day.

Rezty Felty, 58, said this election felt particularly important. A regular voter and almost 30-year resident of Tonganoxie, Felty had a set of Kamala Harris-themed fingernails for the occasion.

“Because we had one side that seemed to be pulling for the whole country and another side that seemed to be dragging us into fascism,” Felty said.

Sue Hicks, 60, expects to retire soon and about worries about economic slippage. She said she voted for Trump “because I’m not better off than I was four years ago.” She said high property taxes and an income that doesn’t stretch as far as it used to were factors in her presidential decision, but would welcome a feeling of hope in American politics.

Nicole Martin, 51, felt similarly. She said the rising cost of living and illegal immigration informed her votes.

“I need my stocks to go up,” she said. “I need my food to go down. I need my gas to go down.”

Loren Harrell, 28, said reproductive rights and rights for fellow LGBTQ+ community members were top of mind when voting for president.

“Those were the kind of big things for me, but I know in this area I’m a bit of an outlier,” Harrell said.

Some of the voters in the Leavenworth County community of about 6,000 people said they voted to represent their conservative values while others voted to keep certain candidates out of office.

Sarah Dunkle, 21, is a first-time voter. She came to the polls with her mother, 63-year-old Robin Thompson, and she said she was proud to be able to represent a younger generation.

Thompson was most interested in the presidential race, but Dunkle said she made sure to pay attention to local races too.

“It’s important to me who’s going to be running the country,” Thompson said.

Launched in July 2020, Kansas Reflector is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Kansas Reflector retains full editorial independence.