Voter turnout

Organizers of Vote16MO, created by a Kansas City teen, said that lowering the voting age will increase civic education and engagement by allowing teens to be more involved in decisions that affect their lives.

Kansas City reviews its city charter once a decade — a process that usually takes months. But this time the commission only has five weeks to consider major changes to the democratic process — including raising the bar for ballot initiatives and canceling general elections if one candidate wins a high enough portion of the primary vote.

Florida, Missouri and West Virginia announced they're pulling out of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, the only system states have to share voter registration data. The system has been the target of a sustained misinformation campaign from the far-right.

Kelly joins 11 other female governors as women in Kansas and Missouri won offices at local, state and federal levels.

Midterms typically attract fewer voters than presidential races, but fewer people voted on Tuesday than in the 2018 midterm election. In some parts of the metro, turnout was lower than in the August primary.

Voters across the country reported getting text messages directing them to vote at incorrect polling locations. A progressive political organization said the errors were unintentional, but experts warn the mistake could affect voter turnout on Election Day.

A slate of conservative women seeking office pitched campaign messages to Johnson County voters Friday. Johnson County sheriff Calvin Hayden and Republican attorney general candidate Kris Kobach, who were expected to speak, did not appear.

Kansans went to the polls on Tuesday to decide who will advance to the general election in several key races. They also weighed in on whether the state constitution includes the right to an abortion.

Republicans have gotten most of the attention in the U.S. Senate primary in Missouri, but August 2 also has a competitive Democratic primary too. Plus, one candidate hopes he will become one of the few elected Hispanic officials in Jackson County.

Kansas has more unaffiliated voters than registered Democrats, but the state has little data about how the group will vote in the August primary.

But some election officials say the three weeks of in-person, no-excuse absentee voting is still too restrictive — and others don't like the legislation restarting Missouri's photo identification requirement.

In 47 states, the Republican Party has been proposing, and sometimes passing, sweeping new laws to restrict voting access.