photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Elections Office on West 23rd Street is pictured on July 13, 2022.

Douglas County residents can now see who’s behind the votes in local elections with a new online tool detailing voter demographics and precinct-by-precinct registration totals.

For example, the new tool puts to rest any debate of whether men or women are more likely to be registered voters in Douglas County. Despite the county’s population being nearly evenly split between males and females, women significantly outnumber men when it comes to registered voters. Currently, there are 41,709 female voters and 37,315 male registered voters, according to the new data tool.

The tool – launched by the Douglas County Clerk’s Office – is called the Election Data Dashboard. It allows users to explore current voter registration data in the county, including the number of registered, active and inactive voters, as well as other demographic information like average age, gender and location.

County Clerk Jamie Shew told the Journal-World that the dashboard is aiming to be updated weekly, and daily when elections are approaching in the summer and fall. This year, the 2026 primary election is Aug. 4 and the general election is Nov. 3.

Other facts and figures from the data tool include:

• Of the total 80,078 registered voters in Douglas County, as of April 27, 77% of voters reside in Lawrence, totaling 61,808. That’s significant compared to the county’s smaller towns, Eudora, Baldwin City and Lecompton with 4,357, 3,041 and 380, respectively.

• The average age of the county’s registered voters is 48.55 years.

• Democrats, by far, make the largest political party in the county, but Democrats don’t represent an overall majority of voters in the county. Instead, 44.8% of Douglas County voters are registered Democrats, 28.3% are unaffiliated with any political party, 25.2% are registered Republicans and 1.3% are Libertarians.

• There is a large number of people on the local voter rolls who have not voted recently. There are 13,371 inactive voters, meaning their registration has been flagged because election officials have reason to believe the person may no longer live at their listed address or may no longer be eligible at that location.

Under the National Voter Registration Act, counties must keep voter rolls up to date, Shew said. If the clerk’s office learns someone may have moved — such as through returned mail or postal notices — that voter is placed on inactive status while staff tries to confirm their address. If they respond, re-register or vote, they return to active status. If there is no contact for two federal election cycles, they can be removed from the rolls.

Voters in Douglas County can check if they’re registered to vote or update their information at https://www.dgcoks.gov/county-clerk/voting-and-elections. The deadline to register to vote or update voter registration information for the 2026 primary election is July 14, and the deadline to do the same for the general election is Oct. 13.

The County Clerk’s Office also has a new “Ballot Box” blog, where staff will regularly post updates about voting and elections. Residents can subscribe to receive blog posts on the County Clerk’s website.

What we know so far about the 2026 election

This year’s local elections include three open seats on the Douglas County Commission, representing Districts 1, 4 and 5, primarily located in and around Lawrence, Eudora and southern Douglas County.

As the Journal-World reported, two candidates have already filed for the District 4 seat – incumbent Gene Dorsey and newcomer Ethan Spurling. Incumbents Patrick Kelly, representing District 1, and Erica Anderson, representing District 4, have not yet filed for reelection and no other candidates have joined either race.

There are also seats available in the Kansas House of Representatives for districts representing Douglas County, including Districts 5, 10, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47 and 117. Three House Districts in the county will have primary elections as it stands, as the Journal-World reported.

The deadline for candidates to file is June 1 at noon.