photo by: Ashley Golledge

This 2020 sign at the Carnegie Building encourages Lawrence residents to vote.

UPDATED: 2:20 P.M. Aug. 16, 2021

The Douglas County Commission on Monday certified the recent primary election results for the Lawrence City Commission and the Lawrence school board.

The top six vote getters in both races are now officially eligible for election in the general election in November. Both boards have three open seats up for election.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said in an email that an additional 99 provisional ballots were added to the total vote count during the certification process. However, the additional votes did not provide any major changes to the results.

With the added votes, a total of 6,626 ballots were cast for a turnout of 10.2%. That’s on par with how the county voted during the primary election for the City Commission in 2017 — 6,081 votes for a 10.4% turnout — which was the first local election held in August since the state moved them from the spring.

Shew previously told the Journal-World he thought 8,000 ballots may be cast this year, but that was not the case. He said there may be several reasons why more didn’t come out to vote, such as the time of the election coinciding when many college students aren’t in town or families are on vacation.

Additionally, he said he heard from several voters this year who did not realize the primary election was open to all registered voters, as opposed to state and federal primary elections that are limited to voters registered with a political party.

“The August primary has always been a challenge for us,” Shew said.

However, Shew said he expects more to participate during the general election. In 2019, more than 18,000 residents cast a ballot for the local races and that may again be the case this year.

Shew said the county also began sending out mailers to inform people about elections, which helped increase participation in 2019. He said his office again plans to do that for the general election this year.

The remaining candidates for the City Commission include Lisa Larsen, Bart Littlejohn, Stuart Boley, Amber Sellers, Ma’Ko’Quah Jones and Milton Scott. The remaining candidates for the school board include Kelly Jones, Kay Emerson, G.R. Gordon Ross, Andrew Nussbaum, Nate Morsches and Elizabeth Stephens.

Stephens clinched the sixth and final spot by receiving just seven more votes than Melissa Clissold, who came in seventh. The race for the final spot was close, as Stephens and Clissold were tied on election night, the Journal-World previously reported.

Shew pointed to that result as proof how important it is for residents to vote in elections.

“These are the kind of elections where every vote counts,” he said.

The official results were posted on the county website, douglascountyelections.com. The general election will be Nov. 2. The last day to register to vote in that election is Oct. 12.