Your guide to voting in Missouri and Kansas in 2018
Election Day is about a month out. If you’re going to vote — and we think you should! — first things first: check and make sure you are registered to vote. (If you’ve recently moved, for example, you may have to re-register.)
If you live in Missouri: you can check your registration here. And do it soon — the deadline to register is this Wednesday, October 10. Two days!
If you live in Kansas: you can check your registration here. Hop to that as well — the deadline is next Tuesday, October 16. You can register to vote online in Kansas here.
Advance voting: in Kansas, it starts October 17; call your local election board to learn more about that (numbers below). Missouri does not offer advance voting (booo). But you can request a Missouri absentee ballot here.
Whichever state you live in, you can also register to vote in person at your county’s election board. Here is contact info for several election boards in the KC area:
Jackson County: 816-325-4600 www.jcebmo.org
Kansas City: 816-842-4820 www.kceb.org
Clay County: 816-415-8683 www.claycoelections.com
Platte County: 816-858-4400 www.plattemovotes.org
Cass County: 816-380-8102 www.casscounty.com
Johnson County: 913-715-6800 https://jocoelection.org
Wyandotte County: 913-573-8500 www.wycokck.org/Election
Douglas County: 785-832-5267 www.douglascountyks.org/depts/voting-and-elections
Leavenworth County: 913-684-0419, www.leavenworthcounty.org/clerk
Why vote? Here are some (though not all) reasons you may find compelling.
In Missouri
-Amendment 1, or “Clean Missouri,” seeks to reduce the influence of big money in Missouri politics. Learn more about it here.
-Proposition B seeks to gradually increase the minimum wage to $12/hour by 2023. More here.
-Weed! There are three ballot initiatives related to legalizing medical marijuana in Missouri. Read about those here.
-Claire McCaskill is running for reelection to the U.S. Senate. There is a slim chance the Democrats could take back the Senate in November, and McCaskill will almost certainly have to hold onto her seat if that is to happen. Her race against Republican Josh Hawley currently appears to be quite tight.
In Kansas
-The stridently anti-immigrant crusader Kris Kobach is running for governor and has the full-throated endorsement of Donald Trump. Recent polls show Republican Kobach and Democrat Laura Kelly in a dead heat, with Independent candidate Greg Orman grabbing 9 percent of the vote.
-Democrat Sharice Davids has a good shot at knocking off Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder, who has represented Kansas’s 3rd District since 2011. The district includes Johnson County, Wyandotte County, and parts of Miami County. This is considered an important race for Democrats as they seek control of the House of Representatives.
-In Kansas’s 2nd District, currently held by retiring Republican Lynn Jenkins, Democrat Paul Davis is running against Steve Watkins, who was recently revealed to have lied about building his company. A Davis win would also be big for Democrats in Congress.
