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Sedgwick County considers legislation to allow combining adjacent precincts and delay official precinct-level results
Summary
Commissioners reviewed draft statutory changes to permit combining adjacent precincts separated only by rights-of-way and to allow up to three business days for counties to transmit official precinct election results to the Secretary of State after canvass, citing privacy and small-precinct concerns.
Sedgwick County commissioners discussed two election-office proposals as part of the legislative platform: (1) allow precincts separated only by a public right-of-way to be combined with adjacent precincts when ballot choices are identical; and (2) require that precinct-level results not be considered final or official until county canvassing is complete, allowing county election officials up to three business days to transmit official precinct results to the Secretary of State.
Commissioner Howe said the current practice of redacting very-small-precinct vote tallies raises privacy concerns and that merging adjacent precincts with identical ballots could reduce the number of redacted precincts and improve transparency. "If the if the people on both sides of the road have the same decisions on their ballot, why do we go to legislatively allow them to be merged?" he asked. County election staff and commissioners agreed the matter warrants outreach to the county election commissioner and the Secretary of State to determine legal feasibility and operational implications.
The commission did not adopt final language; staff were instructed to coordinate with election officials and the Secretary of State and to return with recommended statutory text or an administration-level solution.
