Deadline approaches for advance ballots

The deadline to apply for a ballot is Nov. 4.

After Kansas’s Oct. 18 deadline for voter registration, advanced ballots were sent out to voters who had already applied for their ballots.

There’s still time for those who are registered to vote to get their applications sent in, too.

Advanced ballots are handy for college students who live far from home or don’t have time to go back home to vote on Election Day.

To get signed up for an advanced ballot in Kansas, voters can print out an application online through their county’s election office’s website.

Voters need a valid form of identification such as a Driver’s License, Non-Drivers I.D., or a school I.D. The deadline to apply for a ballot is Nov. 4.

“[Advanced ballots are beneficial for college students] because it allows them to vote, even if they are away from home,” Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said.

Once you have the form, you simply fill out all the information on the ballot and mail it back to your county’s election office. When the office get’s your application and your information is verified, you’ll receive a ballot in the mail.

Be sure to have it sent to your student mailbox if you’re not close to home.

After you receive the ballot, you can fill it out and send it back to your county’s office to be received before 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Make sure to read and follow the instructions not only on the envelope, but on the ballot itself,” Lehman said. ”Mail the ballot back in plenty of time for it to reach the Election Office by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.”

Don’t go to the polls if you’ve applied for an advanced ballot. Voters who have applied for an advanced ballot and have been approved by their county’s election office, a vote at the polls will be counted as “provisional.” This means that your vote is only counted if there is a tie between candidates in a race.

This rarely happens, as most provisional ballots are discarded and not counted.

The ballot will be sealed in the envelope and it will be brought back to the election office,” Lehman said. “The election office researches the information and makes sure that the voter only returned one voted ballot.

“If the provisional ballot is the only ballot received from the voter, the election office will recommend the ballot be counted, that recommendation is made to the board of county canvassers who make the final decisions at canvassing.”