Excluded Independent Voters Vastly Outnumber Total Primary Turnout in Kansas

image
Published: 08 Aug, 2018
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
1 min read

There are more registered independent voters in the state of Kansas than the total number of voters who participated in the August 7 closed primary elections.

There are 1.8 million registered voters in Kansas. Nearly a third of these voters could not participate in the primary elections, while about a quarter of total registered voters actually participated.

https://twitter.com/BACaskey/status/1026974737208094725

Let's put this in perspective and look at the top-ticket election in the state -- the race for governor.

When Only Partisans Vote, Only Partisans Are Elected

As of this writing, with 100% of precincts reporting, a little over 460,000 Kansans (a quarter of the registered electorate) voted in the Republican AND Democratic governor's races combined.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, who holds a slim lead over Republican rival Jeff Coyler, is at 126,257 votes. That is not only nowhere close to a majority victory (40.6% of total Republican votes), it is 7% of the total registered voting population.

Even if Coyler wins in the re-count, which is being conducted by Kobach, the figures don't change much.

The Democratic winner, Laura Kelly, took just under 79,000 votes. Or, a mere 4 percent of the total registered voting population.

Yet, the media will continue to focus on these two candidates as the preeminent choices in this election while ignoring the voters and candidates who were not allowed to participate in the primaries, and thus were not allowed to have their voices heard.

IVP Donate

Not only that, candidates outside the major parties are dismissed as spoilers.

Who do these major party candidates represent? The people of the state? The whole party? Or the increasingly small base of voters that participate in the primaries.

Photo Credit: iQoncept / shutterstock.com

Latest articles

I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read
A man filling out his election ballot.
Oregon Activist Sues over Closed Primaries: 'I Shouldn't Have to Join a Party to Have a Voice'
A new lawsuit filed in Oregon challenges the constitutionality of the state’s closed primary system, which denies the state’s largest registered voting bloc – independent voters – access to taxpayer-funded primary elections. The suit alleges Oregon is denying the voters equal voting rights...
01 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read