Patty Jaimes is electing to divide precincts and open new polling places to keep up with population growth in Lawrence and Eudora.

Jaimes, Douglas County clerk, is mailing out letters and new voter-registration cards to 13,500 people whose voting patterns are about to change.

The idea is to make things easier on voters, who already face enough obstacles in exercising their collective right to vote.

“Some people are very dedicated to voting,” Jaimes said, “but there are others who have a very busy schedule, and if they wait till the last minute — like after work — to vote, sometimes it’s very frustrating if they have to stand in line for any length of time.

“I would hope this would make the lines move quicker, and therefore people wouldn’t be discouraged from going to vote.”

In all, the county will have 67 precincts, up from the current 64. The county also is adding six polling places to its current list of 61.

The next scheduled election is the presidential primary, set for Aug. 3. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 2.

Among the biggest changes: Lawrence’s largest precinct — whose more than 2,200 registered voters have piled into and around Mustard Seed Christian Fellowship, 700 Wakarusa Drive — now will be split in two.

The precinct’s southern half now will contain 1,112 voters, who will be casting their ballots at nearby Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community, 4851 Harvard Road.

¢ 6News video: Voting precincts being redrawn

Continued growth is driving the need for more precincts, more polling places — and more poll workers.

“We’re now using Langston Hughes Elementary School, and the new (Corpus Christi) Catholic Church out there as polling places,” said Jaimes, who is recruiting poll workers at $5.20 an hour. “It’s all growth.”

Changes aren’t limited to Lawrence.

Eudora is adding a fourth precinct, to help account for rapid residential expansion south of Kansas Highway 10. The new precinct’s polling place will be at Eudora Church of Christ, 1530 Winchester, and glean voters from the city’s central and southern areas.