Vote Aug. 4

For Kansas voters the August primary election is less than two weeks away. Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Regular readers of this newspaper should have already gotten the message that the election is on the way. There have been several ads and even a few news stories published about the election.

A notice of the election which lists all the candidates who have filed has been published three times in this newspaper. This issue contains public notices about testing the voting machines that will be used and when the board of canvassers will meet to approve the returns.

While the number of polling places have declined from the days when each township had one or more places where votes could be cast, it is no longer a necessity to go to the polls. Forms published in this issue and last week’s issue, when completed and submitted to the county clerk’s office in a timely manner will allow a registered voter to avoid going to the polls.

And that can be good. We used to consider such ballots were suitable only for disabled voters but that is no longer true. Health isn’t the only reason that can keep voters from the polls. This writer remembers a story his mother, the late Doris Blauvelt, told about having to walk to the polls. It had rained and the roads were impassable, so she walked. His father, the late Roy Blauvelt, told of the time impassable roads made it necessary for him to ride a horse to the polling place.