By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
With consistent lines inside the Barton County Clerk’s Office during early voting, and another busy day for volunteers at polling locations on Tuesday, voter participation seemed especially high for the 2026 General Election. In reality, it was remarkably consistent. In 2018, 49.23 percent of Barton County voters participated in the midterm election. That figure grew to 49.95 percent in 2022. The 2026 election saw 49.67 percent of registered voters turn out.
“I think here in Barton County, everything went very smoothly,” said Bev Schmeidler, county election official. “I felt like we had a good turnout for early voting. All the poll sites, as they brought their stuff back (Tuesday night), said they were busy all day. There was no time to sit down. We felt like we stayed busier this time, but it was slightly lower.”
As of Thursday press time, the race for Kansas governor remained undecided. Wednesday evening’s numbers showed Democratic candidate Cindy Holscher with a 5,854 vote lead over Republican Ty Masterson. The race was not nearly as close in Barton County, with Masterson collecting 71 percent of the vote. Schmeidler was unsure Wednesday if the state will ask Barton County for a recount in the race.
“We have a conference call every week with the secretary of state’s office, so I’m sure we’ll get some information there regarding that,” she said. “We had wide margins in our county, so I’m not sure exactly what to expect.”
The other historic race feature incumbent U.S. Senator Roger Marshall against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton. At 8:36 p.m. Tuesday night, NBC News announced Hamilton as the probable winner. The unofficial results show Hamilton with 51 percent of the state-wide vote to beat Marshall by more than 54,000 votes to become the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932. In Barton County, Marshall won 67 percent of the vote. In the 2020 election, Marshall won 73 percent of the vote in Barton County.