By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The advertisements are an indication: the Nov. 8 general election is quickly approaching. Polling locations around the state will open as early as Oct. 19 for early voting. Barton County Clerk Bev Schmeidler reminds voters that the deadline to register to vote is today, Oct. 18.
"If you're not registered or if you've moved recently and didn't re-reregister, because even if you just move across the hall in an apartment building, you need to re-register," she said. "If you're not registered properly, you can still vote but it will be a provisional ballot."
If a voter has not been registered, the provisional ballot will not be counted but will get that voter registered for future elections. If a voter was incorrectly registered due to a name or address change, the provisional ballot may be counted.
There are multiple ways to cast a ballot in this year's election. Those disabled or with difficulty getting out to vote can fill out an application for permanent advanced voting.
"They're put on a permanently advanced list so they automatically are mailed a ballot anytime they are eligible to vote," Schmeidler said. "Those will go out on Oct. 19."
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act allows servicemen and women, their families, and other citizens who are out of the country on Election Day to vote. Again, an application needs to be completed and returned to the clerk's office, and those ballots are emailed to voters.
"Sometimes people are too far away," said Schmeidler. "There's no way the mail will get to them and them get it back to us in time to count because we have to have them back in. They have to be postmarked no later than Election Day."
Early voting will again be an option locally, as soon as Oct. 19 at the Barton County Courthouse. Once up and running, the clerk's office will be open for early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office will also be open on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A valid photo identification is required to vote. The office, which saw more than 3,000 early voters in the 2020 general election, will have several electronic voting stations and a station for paper ballots.
The county also has two drop boxes: one in the alley behind the Hoisington Police Department, and one outside of Central Kansas Community Corrections behind the movie theater in Great Bend. Schmeidler said both locations are under 24-hour camera surveilance. The drop boxes will be opened once the first ballots are mailed out on Oct. 19, and will be closed at 7 p.m. on Election Day to ensure no late ballots are submitted.
For more information on voter registration, contact the county clerk's office at (620) 793-1835.