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Lawrence voters showed up at the polls Tuesday and renewed three special sales taxes, re-elected two Lawrence city commissioners and re-elected the one incumbent running for Lawrence school board.

Unofficial final numbers from the Douglas County Clerk’s office placed voter turnout at 22.36 percent, a jump from 16.5 percent in the last city and school board general election in 2015.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew attributed the increased turnout to an increase in advance ballots.

Shew’s office spent $27,000 to mail out advance ballot applications to county voters for the current election cycle. It was the first time the office had done that for city and school board elections, and 5,500 mail-in ballots were requested, Shew said. More than 5,000 had been returned as of Tuesday evening, and the clerk’s office will continue to receive additional mail-in ballots over the next few days, Shew said.

This year’s election also marks the first time city and school elections have been held in November. State legislators made the change with the belief that a November election would draw more voters than past city and school board elections, which have been held in April.

Lawrence City Commission (three seats)

Top two finishers win 4-year terms, third place wins 2-year term

Lawrence school board (three seats)

* Jill Hayhurst and Steve Wallace have withdrawn from the race for Lawrence school board, but Kansas election statute does not allow candidates to remove their names from the ballot after the June 1 filing deadline.

Sales tax renewals

Results provided by: Douglas County Elections Office