New majorities are available on the Lawrence City Commission and Lawrence school board, and Jamie Shew is here to remind you that only a select group of folks can fill them.

That would be you, Registered Voter.

“These elections are all about turnout,” said Jamie Shew, who, as Douglas County clerk, is the county’s chief elections official. “The candidates that can turn out their voters will win these elections because you don’t have a lot of casual voters in a city-schools election.”

After several months of campaigning and 20 days of advance voting, Election Day has arrived for choosing three Lawrence city commissioners, four members of the Lawrence school board and still other members of city councils and school boards in other area communities.

In all, 65 polls covering 67 precincts in Douglas County will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, welcoming registered voters to cast ballots in local elections:

• For the five-member Lawrence City Commission, three will be elected from a list of five candidates: Sven Alstrom, Hugh Carter, Mike Dever, Mike Machell and Bob Schumm. The top two vote-getters will serve four-year terms, while the third-place candidate will serve a two-year term. Elected candidates will take office April 12.

• For the seven-member Lawrence school board, four of nine candidates will be elected to four-year terms: Jim Clark, Keith Diaz Moore, Ola Faucher, Rick Ingram, Shannon Kimball, Randy Masten, Marlene Merrill, Tyler Palmer and Bill Roth. Winning candidates will join the board in July.

A note to voters: Diane Lindeman’s name appears on ballots for Lawrence school board, despite her having announced in early February that she had dropped out of the race.

Shew remains hopeful that turnout will reach 20 percent of registered voters, which would be typical for an April election. More than 1,000 people have cast ballots, either by mail or in person through advance voting.

Already recording higher-than-normal turnouts include precincts where voters will be casting ballots today at Cordley and New York schools, two neighborhoods where people are concerned about potential school consolidations.

“There’s got to be an issue that drives it,” Shew said. “There are not a lot of voters who show up just to vote.”