KCK's low voter turnout made for a tight mayoral race
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Only about 1 in 5 Wyandotte County voters cast a ballot in Kansas City, Kansas' mayoral race — deciding the city's leadership by fewer than 2,000 votes.
Why it matters: Low voter turnout in local off-year elections often affects the races, and ultimately the decisions, that hit closest to home.
Driving the news: Voters (54%) chose Christal Watson as their next mayor, despite lacking the funds and Kansas City Star endorsement of her opponent.
- Watson was the deputy chief of staff to former KCK Mayor David Alvey.
Zoom in: Only 19.57% of eligible Wyandotte County voters went to the polls on Tuesday, according to unofficial final results from the WyCo Election Office.
- That's on par with the 2021 mayoral race, which had a 19.03% turnout rate, but less than neighboring Johnson County's about 24.39% turnout this year.
Zoom out: Wyandotte County saw more than double this year's turnout for the 2024 general election (54.1%), which was still low in comparison to Kansas as a whole (70.7%).
What they're saying: "There's only 10 of us" full-time, Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Michael Abbott tells Axios. "We'd always like the percentage to be higher… we can only do what we can do."
- Abbott says the office conducts outreach, including mailing informational postcards and holding voter drives at high schools for students turning 18.
- Both election offices in Johnson County and Jackson County (which does not include Kansas City, Missouri) employ 20 full-time staff, election officials tell Axios.
Context: Scott LaCombe, a government professor at the University of Missouri, tells Axios that educated, wealthy voters and homeowners are "much more likely to participate" in low-turnout elections.
- "These differences in turnout are more about the overall margin of victory," he added.
- But he says it's normal to have a low turnout in "off-off-years" that don't coincide with statewide races or midterms.
What's next: Watson ran on a platform of infrastructure, workforce, housing and community. She says she plans to establish teams to implement her vision in the coming weeks, Fox 4 reported.
The bottom line: The KCK mayoral election is an example of how every vote counts in local elections.