Nearly exactly the same number of voters were given provisional ballots in this year’s Aug. 7 primaries as last year’s. About 27 percent of the provisional ballots were cast because of Kansas’ voter identification law, new this year.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said that voters cast 171 provisional ballots, compared with 172 last year. Forty-six of the provisional ballots this year were given to voters who weren’t able to show suitable ID at the polls. The most common reason, other than ID, that voters get provisional ballots is because they show up to the wrong polling location.

Voters have until 9 a.m. Thursday to send proof of identification to the county clerk’s office to have their vote count in the canvass. Twenty-eight of the 46 have done this as of about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Shew said, leaving 18 that the office are still trying to reach. A few people they have contacted indicated that they don’t intend to turn in proof of ID as a “protest of the law,” Shew said.

The 18 left can scan their IDs and email an image to elections@douglas-county.com, fax it to 832-5192 or bring it by the County Courthouse at 1100 Mass.

Shew said that the unofficial total voter turnout last Tuesday was 10,086, or about 13.5 percent of the total number of registered voters as of June. About 19.2 percent of registered Democrats voted and about 23.1 percent of Republicans.