Early voting trends in Kansas show a little more than half of the ballots cast so far have been by Republicans, a possible boost for struggling candidates Sen. Pat Roberts and Gov. Sam Brownback.
Of the 153,436 early votes so far, 82,739 – or 54 percent – were from Republicans. Only 47,468, or 31 percent, were cast by Democrats.
The remaining votes were cast by unaffiliated or libertarian voters.
"Early voting is turning out as our voter data models predicted and is consistent with early voting patterns in 2010 and 2012," Clay Barker, Kansas Republican Party executive director,
told Town Hall in an email.
"Republican voters are building a substantial lead over Democrats that is increasing with each passing day. There were no October surprises."
Roberts is battling a challenge from independent Greg Orman, while Brownback is running against the state's House Minority Leader, Democrat Paul Davis. Polls have shown both trailing.
The Hutchinson News reports Democrats assert some of the early-voting Republicans are choosing Davis over Brownback in the gubernatorial race.
Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach is predicting a 50 percent overall turnout for the midterm races, or about 872,000 voters – which would represent a record for a nonpresidential election year, according to
the Wichita Eagle.
"Each day that goes by these early voting numbers increase for Republicans and shrink for Democrats as more early in-person votes are cast - a key point of emphasis for the Republican ground game operation," Barker
told the Hutchinson News.
"At the current trajectory, votes cast by Election Day will be in excess of 55 percent Republican."
Some of Kobach’s critics have charged he's making voting difficult for more than 23,000 Kansans whose registration status is suspended because of the state’s proof-of-citizenship law.
"The overwhelming majority [of suspended voters] don’t seem to be particularly interested in turning up," Kobach said, the Eagle reports. "The ones who come off the incomplete list are doing it because they want to vote."
Kobach’s office said 1.74 million Kansans are registered to vote –
the highest percentage of voter turnout in a nonpresidential election since 1998 was 53 percent in 2002, when 851,966 of 1.6 million registered voters participated, the Eagle reports.
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