Lines at polling places were a sure sign advanced voting had picked up in Douglas County on Friday, but County Clerk Jamie Shew wants voters to be mindful of a key slowdown as well — mail delivery.

Shew told the Journal-World that he is urging residents with advance ballots to drop them off in person or at a one of the county’s collection boxes rather than putting them in the mail. While Election Day isn’t until Tuesday, Shew said putting a ballot in the mail at this hour is risky.

“Based off of what we are seeing, it probably won’t reach our office in time if you drop it off in the mail right now,” Shew told the Journal-World on Friday afternoon.

That’s even taking into account that current state law — after a Thursday decision by the Kansas Supreme Court — still allows election officials to count mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, as long as the ballot arrives no later than three days after Election Day.

Shew, though, said his office is seeing average delivery times of six to seven days for ballots to reach his office, noting that some are taking longer than average.

“I think it is taking too much of a chance,” Shew said of mailing a ballot at this date.

Instead, Shew said there are several options for voters to get their ballots turned in without using the Postal Service. One that gets overlooked is going to any polling place in the county on Election Day. Simply take your completed, advance ballot with you and turn it into a poll worker. Shew said state law allows a voter to turn in a ballot at any polling location in the county. In other words, you don’t have to remember which polling location is your assigned location, which is based on your address. If you are driving around town and see one of the red and white vote signs outside a building, that’s a location that will accept your ballot.

Another option that can be used any time day or night is to leave your ballot in one of seven ballot drop boxes that are located throughout the county. The ballot boxes are all located outside of prominent buildings in the county, which means that the boxes are accessible even if the building is closed for the day. Shew said the ballot boxes are locked, secured, and also are equipped with cameras in an effort to deter anybody from disturbing the boxes.

The boxes are located at:

• Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts

• Douglas County Clerk and Elections Office, 711 W. 23rd Street

• Douglas County Treasurer Sixth Street Office, 2601 W. Sixth Street

• Golf Course Superintendents Building, 1421 Research Park Drive

• Baldwin City Hall, 803 Eighth Street, Baldwin City

• Eudora City Hall, 4 E. Seventh Street, Eudora

• Lecompton City Hall, 327 Elmore Street, Lecompton

Shew said the slowdown in ballot delivery by the Postal Service has been a long developing issue. He said a change in a process that impacts all Lawrence mail — not just ballots — has been a big factor. It used to be that mail that was dropped off in a Lawrence mailbox and was to be delivered to a Lawrence address would be fully processed in Lawrence. Now, however, mail that is sent from Lawrence goes to a Kansas City processing center, even if its final destination is Lawrence, Shew said. That has added several days to the process.

Shew said processing changes also have reduced the amount of mail that routinely gets processed during the weekends. That slowdown also plays a role in increased delivery times, he said.

As for voting activity during this primary voting season, Shew said that it had been fairly routine until Friday. He said voting today was busy, with “steady lines throughout the day.”

“It was like everybody woke up and decided it was time to vote,” Shew said.

That surge has Shew now projecting that turnout in Douglas County will be a bit higher than normal for a non-presidential primary election. In addition to the normal races for governor, U.S. Senate, Congress state legislative seats and local races the ballot also includes a hotly-contested state constitutional amendment related to how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected.

In August 2022 when Kansas had a constitutional amendment on the ballot related to abortion rights, turnout was huge. More people voted during the primary election — thanks to the constitutional amendment — than voted in the general election.

Shew said on Friday the number of voters per hour in Douglas County was above the levels in August 2022. However, Shew is not predicting a turnout as large as the August 2022 totals. Douglas County has had just had one day of such high turnout, where there were many days at that level in 2022.

“Up until now, it had not looked like August 2022,” Shew said of voter activity.

Instead, Shew is expecting voter turnout to be above the normal primary totals of about 15,000 voters. He said turnout could end up being in the mid-20,000 range and possible could hit 30,000 voters, “but that’s going to take a lot more people showing up.”

In-person voting on Election Day will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Registered voters can find their assigned polling location at dgcoks.gov/county-clerk/voting-and-elections.