At Weeks End
We talk lot about how important each election is. Even so, an inordinate number of voters often neglect to exercise their franchise.
Two examples come to mind, races in which a couple of more votes could have changed the outcome.
In 1989, three-term incumbent John Carder lost by a single vote to Ray Pershall in the mayoral race.
On the Friday night before the election I visited with John. He had been campaigning door-to-door, as was his method that had carried him to success previously.
Thats it, no more, he said. I often wonder how the election might have ended had he hit the streets two or three more evenings.
A burden John carried that year was he announced several weeks before the election he wouldnt run for another term. Pershall filed. Then, with misgivings of stepping away from a job he enjoyed, Carder told me, he decided to have another go.
In 2014, Jerry Daniels and Jim Mueller squared off in the First District Allen County Commission race. They ended tied, to represent Humboldt, Moran, Elsmore, Savonburg and nearby townships.
Daniels won by a coin flip.
Just one vote would have decided the election in a more democratic manner.
Tuesday weve another election, and all races on the primary ballot are important in one way or another.
John Brocker, the incumbent by appointment, and Bruce Symes are seeking the Republican nomination in commission District Three, to represent the precincts of Iola, Bassett and South Iola Township. The winner will take on Democrat Steven Henderson, a newcomer to the county.
At the regional and state level we have other races that beg of us to put forth the meager effort required to vote.
A clutch of conservative candidates are seeking the GOP nomination for the Second District congressional seat, including Caryn Tyson, who is in the middle of a four-year term in the Kansas Senate representing this area. The Democratic candidate unopposed is Paul Davis, who came close to defeating Sam Brownback for governor in 2014.
The congressional race has drawn national attention. Consequently, both sides will be well-funded.
In the governors race Jeff Colyer, incumbent by succession on the resignation of Brownback, and Kris Kobach, secretary of state, are at the top of a field of several on the GOP side.
