Topeka ? Scores of people from nearly every region of Kansas packed into a Senate committee room Wednesday, while others testified by phone and Skype, to express support of and opposition to a bill that would move city and school board elections to November and make them partisan.

Most of those supporting the bill said it would improve voter turnout in local elections, which are currently held in the spring of odd-numbered years.

An overflow crowd showed up for a Senate committee hearing Wednesday on a bill that would move city and school board elections to November and make them partisan.

Walt Chappell, a former Kansas State Board of Education member from Wichita, said only about 6 percent of voters turned out for the spring 2013 elections in Sedgwick County.

“I’m very impressed with this bill. It’s long overdue and something we have to have,” Chappell said. “As a nation and a state, we first of all have to have a representative democracy.”

Senate Bill 171 would change the structure of some local governments by establishing staggered terms so that elections are held every November. That would mean some would coincide with state and federal races in even-numbered years, while others would be local-only elections in odd-numbered years, and their terms would begin at the first of the following year.

It would also require school districts to make their buildings available to be used as polling places, at the request of the county election officer.

City officials from Pratt and Winfield, who testified via Skype, said the cost of running local elections in the spring is hard for small communities to afford, especially given the small number of voters who typically turn out.

Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said he supports requiring candidates to declare their party affiliation.

“The parties already are deeply involved; both of them are,” Barker said. “I do mailing, and former (Democratic) Gov. (Kathleen) Sebelius I saw doing some fundraising for some school boards. More power to her on that. But the parties are deeply involved.”

And Joy Eakins, a recently elected Wichita school board member, said she thinks changing the timing of the elections would be good for school board members, who are currently elected in the spring and take office the following July 1.

“In our first three meetings, we were asked to approve a budget of $639 million, we were asked to approve a superintendent’s contract and we were asked to (approve) union contracts for the teachers,” Eakins said. “All of the work to get to those contracts and those budgets was done in the spring, and elected board members did not have any input into those.”

But Eakins conceded that most of her colleagues on the Wichita school board did not support the bill.

In fact, according to the Kansas Association of School Boards, the Wichita board is one of at least 101 school boards in the state that have recently passed resolutions opposing passage of the bill.

The Lawrence school board, as well as the Lawrence City Commission have also passed similar resolutions.

So many people had signed up to testify on the bill that the committee only had time to hear from supporters. By the time opponents got their turn, several committee members had to leave to attend other committee meetings, and the panel quickly lost its quorum.

A few opponents were able to speak before the meeting adjourned, including George Griffith, superintendent of the WaKeeney school district in Trego County, who said turning local elections into partisan races would discourage many people from running for those offices.

“Trego County is not a huge county. We struggle to get people to run on the ballot, and those people would drop off if it became a partisan issue,” he said.

Committee chairman Sen. Mitch Holmes, R-St. John, said he would extend the hearing to include another day of testimony Thursday to hear from more opponents. He said he expects the committee to vote next week on whether to advance the bill to the full Senate.