photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

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

The final count of Douglas County’s 2025 general election results is done, and turnout was “very much in line” with past City Commission and school board races, Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said.

On Monday, the Douglas County Election Office held its general election canvass, at which county officials give an overview of the results and discuss voter turnout, and county commissioners approved the final count. Voters cast 21,459 ballots — 8,215 in advance and 13,244 on Election Day — for a turnout rate of 26.7% of the county’s 80,393 registered voters.

The winners of the Lawrence City Commission and school board races haven’t changed from the initial results that were reported after the polls closed. For the Lawrence City Commission race, newcomers Mike Courtney and Kristine Polian won the two open seats with 9,091 votes and 8,622 votes, respectively. In the school board race, the three open seats were won by incumbent Shannon Kimball with 9,038 votes, incumbent Kelly Jones with 8,599 votes and newcomer Matt Lancaster with 6,167 votes. The other incumbent in the school board race, Bob Byers, finished fourth with 6,098 votes, but will still get to stay on the board, because the board voted at its meeting last week to appoint the fourth-place finisher in the general election to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of board member Anne Costello. Byers will serve the remainder of Costello’s term, which ends in January 2028.

Shew told the Journal-World that turnout was similar to previous general elections for city and school board races in the county, such as those in 2023 and 2021. According to historical data, in 2023 there were 8,949 advance ballots and 11,731 ballots on Election Day, or 20,680 in total. In 2021 there were 8,862 advance ballots and 8,669 ballots cast on Election Day, for a total of 17,531.

“There were actually some pretty strong candidates and races throughout the county” this year, Shew said. “… So I think I expected maybe a slightly higher turnout, but it’s very interesting how the turnout both with advance (voting) and Election Day was very much in line with what we’ve had over the past few cycles.”

When the official count was done, there were 270 provisional ballots counted in Douglas County and 119 provisional ballots not counted. The most common reasons for not counting ballots include a mail ballot being received before Nov. 7 without a postmark — 24 such ballots this year — and a mail ballot being received before Nov. 7 with a postmark dated after the Election Day deadline — 28 such ballots this year. Other significant categories include ballots cast by voters not registered in Douglas County — 16 — and ballots cast by voters who failed to provide valid identification — 19.

The final results also showed that many mail ballots that were requested were not actually cast. There were 9,072 mail ballots requested by county voters, but the county only received 6,088 ballots back.