Women for Kansas - Barton County Chapter will provide free rides to the polls within the Great Bend area during poll hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The deadline to reserve a ride is 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4. Call Pam Martin at 620-285-1083 to make a reservation.
Advance voting is another option for those who cannot get to the polls on Nov. 6, Martin noted. The deadline to vote early at the county election office in the Barton County Courthouse is noon on Monday, Nov. 5.
“Several factors have influenced our efforts to encourage voting and actively work against voter suppression,” said Martin, co-chair for the group. “W4K, which is a nonpartisan women’s group encouraging moderate policies, strongly encourages EVERYONE to vote.”
Earlier in the year, the group focused on voter registration. Members passed out voter registration cards during Ellinwood’s After Harvest Festival and held voter registration at Barton Community College, where they hosted a presentation by Loud Light founder Davis Hammet, who is actively working to register millennials.
Elsewhere in Kansas, W4K members are offering rides to Dodge City’s only polling place, which was moved outside of town due to road construction. Several other groups have been working to get the word out and offer rides to the new polling place, especially since newly registered voters in Dodge City received an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong voting location.
“We had already thought of offering rides, but learning of the voter suppression tactics used in Kansas, Georgia and North Dakota and the mess in Dodge City strengthened our resolve to resist those tactics,” Martin said.
Barton County W4K members have no way of knowing whether lack of transportation keeps people from voting here but they thought it would be a worthwhile endeavor to offer rides.
“W4K has also focused on encouraging women to vote, of course, but also those who don’t normally vote such as millennials – ages 18 to 34 – minorities and those in lower socioeconomic categories. Although millennials are projected to become the largest age portion of the population in 2019, only 20 percent of them vote, as opposed to those age 65 and over, of whom 70 percent vote.”
Paper ballots recommended
W4K also recommends using a paper ballot to ensure your vote counts, Martin said. Paper ballots can be double-checked and protect against cyber incursions. A report from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommends phasing out voting machines that don’t leave a paper trail and only using paper ballots that humans can double-check. If you do vote by machine, make sure it supplies a receipt and take the time to check your selection, Martin suggested.
W4K - Barton County Chapter held its first meeting in April of this year. Meetings are on the third Sunday of the month at 2 p.m. For more information contact Martin by email at butterfly@hbcomm.net.
