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Endorsements in Kansas school board elections, 2023
| School Board Endorsements |
| 2023 |
 |
Regular elections • Recalls |
Colorado • Kansas • Minnesota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Pennsylvania • South Dakota • Virginia • Washington • Wisconsin |
Conflicts in school board elections |
Kansas held 757 elections for 1,160 of the state's 2,053 school board seats on November 7.
While Kansas' school board elections are officially nonpartisan, Ballotpedia researched publicly available voter files and candidate filing information to identify the partisan affiliation of candidates running in these elections.
Overall, of the 1,160 seats up for election:
- Registered Democrats won 13%
- Registered Republicans won 78%
- Registered independents or minor party candidates won 9%
- Candidates whose affiliation could not be identified won 1%
Democratic and Republican wins strongly correlated with districts where those parties made up a majority or plurality of voters. Of the 1,160 seats up for election, 2% were in Democratic-leaning districts, 95% were in Republican-leaning districts, and 3% were in districts with a plurality of unaffiliated voters.
- Democrats won 84% of the seats in Democratic-leaning districts
- Republicans won 80% of the seats in Republican-leaning districts
- Democrats and Republicans won 40% and 43% of seats in the remaining districts, respectively
These totals include uncontested and contested intra-party elections, which accounted for 50% and 15% of all seats up for election, respectively.
The remaining 35% of elections were between candidates with different partisan affiliations, described as contested inter-party elections. In these elections, registered Democrats and Republicans had win rates of 55% and 52%, respectively.
This report also includes a catalog of every endorsement identified and a breakdown of the groups that issued the most endorsements.
The Republican Party of Kansas and its affiliates issued the most endorsements overall, with 107, followed by Game on for Kansas Schools, with 68. These groups had win rates of 44% and 72%, respectively.
Use the links below to navigate to:
- Election results
- Party performance
- Open seats
- Incumbents defeated
- Endorsement information
- Candidate information
- District information
- Methodology
Election results
Kansas held 757 elections for 1,160 school board seats in 2023.[1]
- Registered Democrats won 145 seats (13%)
- Registered Republicans won 901 seats (78%)
- Registered independents or minor party candidates won 102 seats (9%)
- Candidates whose affiliation could not be identified won 12 seats (1%)
The table below shows election results based on the party registration of the winning candidate. There were three types of elections:
- Uncontested, where there was no election.
- Contested intra-party, where there was a contested election between members of the same political party; and,
- Contested inter-party, where there was a contested election between members of different political parties.
Figures show how many seats were won by candidates with the given party registration.
| Kansas school board election winners, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Uncontested | Contested intra-party | Contested inter-party | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | |||||||||||||||||
| Democrats | 41 | 3.5% | 1 | 0.1% | 103 | 8.9% | 145 | 12.5% | ||||||||||||||||
| Republicans | 476 | 41.0% | 177 | 15.3% | 248 | 21.4% | 901 | 77.7% | ||||||||||||||||
| Other | 52 | 4.5% | 0 | 0.0% | 50 | 4.3% | 102 | 8.8% | ||||||||||||||||
| Unknown | 10 | 0.9% | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | 0.1% | 12 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 579 | 49.9% | 179 | 15.4% | 402 | 34.7% | 1,160 | |||||||||||||||||
There were 457 uncontested elections for 579 seats, representing 50% of all seats up for election.
Fourteen of these elections had fewer candidates than seats up for election, and 45 had no candidates on the ballot, guaranteeing 68 seats to write-in candidates, 6% of all seats up for election. In Kansas, if a write-in candidate wins an election, they must indicate whether they want to hold that position. If a person declines, the seat becomes vacant.
For the purpose of this analysis, write-in candidates are counted as winners, regardless of whether they ultimately accepted the position.
There were 120 contested intra-party elections for 179 seats, representing 15% of all seats up for election. Intra-party elections are contested elections, meaning at least one candidate must lose, but every candidate on the ballot has the same party affiliation.
There was one intra-party election between Democrats, 177 between Republicans, and one between candidates for whom Ballotpedia could not identify a party affiliation.
There were 180 contested inter-party elections for 402 seats, representing 35% of all seats up for election. Inter-party elections are contested elections featuring candidates with different party affiliations.
Republicans won a majority of seats in contested inter-party elections (62%), followed by Democrats (26%), and independent or minor party candidates (12%).
The spreadsheet below shows results from Kansas' November 7 general elections. The leftmost columns show district names, the offices up for election within those districts, and the number of seats up for election within those offices.
Winning and defeated candidates are shown under their respective columns and are highlighted based on their ideological lean as determined by the endorsements they received.
- Blue highlights indicate a liberal ideological lean
- Red highlights indicate a conservative ideological lean
- Purple highlights indicate a mixed ideological lean
- Dark gray highlights indicate the candidate received only neutral or unclear endorsements
- Light gray highlights indicate Ballotpedia identified no endorsements for the candidate
Winning candidates marked with (WI) are write-in candidates who won elections for which no candidates appeared on the ballot. A candidate marked WINNER represents a write-in candidate whose identity Ballotpedia could not determine.
Incumbents are marked with a dark gray square to the right of their name.
Partisan analysis
Of the 1,160 seats up for election, 25 (2%) were in Democratic-leaning districts, 1,100 (95%) were in Republican-leaning districts, and 35 (3%) were in districts with a plurality of unaffiliated voters.
Of the 25 seats up in Democratic-leaning districts, Democrats won 84%, and Republicans won 12%.
Of the 1,110 seats up in Republican-leaning districts, Republicans won 80%, and Democrats won 10%.
Of the 35 seats up in the remaining districts, Democrats won 40%, Republicans won 43%, and independent or minor party candidates won 17%.
A full map of every school district in Kansas by its partisan balance can be found here.
Outliers
There was one Republican-plurality district where only Democrats won:
There was one unaffiliated-plurality district where only Democrats won:
Party performance
This section displays win and loss rates for candidates by party affiliation, showing how they performed in contested inter-party elections.
In these contested inter-party elections:
- 186 Democrats ran, 103 of whom (55%) won;
- 480 Republicans ran, 248 of whom (52%) won;
- 121 independent or minor party candidates ran, 50 of whom (41%) won; and,
- Four candidates whose affiliations could not be identified ran, one of whom (25%) won.
| Party performance in contested inter-party Kansas school board elections, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideology | Candidates | Won | Lost | |||||||||||||||||||||
| # | % | # | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Democratic | 186 | 103 | 55.4% | 83 | 44.6% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Republican | 480 | 248 | 51.7% | 232 | 48.3% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 121 | 50 | 41.3% | 71 | 58.7% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Unknown | 4 | 1 | 25.0% | 3 | 75.0% | |||||||||||||||||||
Incumbency
Open seats
Of the 1,160 seats up for election, incumbents ran for 741 (64%), leaving 419 seats open (36%). This open seat rate was above average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.[2]
- Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 29% open seat rate within its regular coverage scope.
Overall, 285 districts held elections. Of that total, 107 districts (38%) had no open seats, 166 (58%) had some open seats, and, in 12 (4%), all seats were open.
Incumbents defeated
Of the 743 incumbents who ran for re-election, 633 won (85%), and 110 lost (15%). Of that total, two lost in primaries held on Aug. 1, and the remaining 108 lost on Nov. 7. This overall loss rate was average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.
- Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 16% overall loss rate within its regular coverage scope.
The percentage of incumbents defeated increases to 30% when looking only at the 369 incumbents who ran in contested elections, those where an incumbent could have lost. This contested loss rate was average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.
- Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 26% contested loss rate within its regular coverage scope.
Overall, 285 districts held elections. Of that total, no incumbents lost in 183 districts (64%), some incumbents lost in 81 districts (28%), and all incumbents lost in nine districts (3%). There were 12 districts (4%) where no incumbents ran for re-election.
Endorsements
Top endorsers
The table below shows the top 10 endorsers in Kansas in terms of the total number of endorsements made. It includes a hoverable column with information about each endorser, the number of candidates they endorsed, and the number of endorsees who won, both in terms of all endorsees and among only those in contested elections.[3][4]
| Top Kansas school board endorsers, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endorser | Info | All | Contested | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Endorsees | Won | % | Lost | % | Endorsees | Won | % | Lost | % | |||||||||||||||
| Republican Party of Kansas | About | 107 | 52 | 48.6% | 55 | 51.4% | 98 | 43 | 43.9% | 55 | 56.1% | |||||||||||||
| Game On for Kansas Schools | About | 68 | 49 | 72.1% | 19 | 27.9% | 67 | 48 | 71.6% | 19 | 28.4% | |||||||||||||
| Democratic Party of Kansas | About | 43 | 27 | 62.8% | 16 | 37.2% | 43 | 27 | 62.8% | 16 | 37.2% | |||||||||||||
| Kansas for Life | About | 40 | 8 | 20.0% | 32 | 80.0% | 40 | 8 | 20.0% | 32 | 80.0% | |||||||||||||
| Kansas Education Association | About | 24 | 20 | 83.3% | 4 | 16.7% | 24 | 20 | 83.3% | 4 | 16.7% | |||||||||||||
| Freedom to Learn Kansas | About | 16 | 13 | 81.3% | 3 | 18.8% | 16 | 13 | 81.3% | 3 | 18.8% | |||||||||||||
| Moms for Kansas | About | 16 | 13 | 81.3% | 3 | 18.8% | 16 | 13 | 81.3% | 3 | 18.8% | |||||||||||||
| Southeast Kansas Freedom | About | 14 | 8 | 57.1% | 6 | 42.9% | 14 | 8 | 57.1% | 6 | 42.9% | |||||||||||||
| 1776 PAC | About | 13 | 2 | 15.4% | 11 | 84.6% | 13 | 2 | 15.4% | 11 | 84.6% | |||||||||||||
| State Rep. Pat Proctor (R) | About | 11 | 3 | 27.3% | 8 | 72.7% | 11 | 3 | 27.3% | 8 | 72.7% | |||||||||||||
Top endorsees
The table below shows the 11 candidates who received the most endorsements. It includes candidates, the offices they ran for, the total number of endorsements they received based on the partisan lean of the endorser, and their election results. Incumbents are marked with (i).
| Top Kansas school board endorsees, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | District | Endorsers | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Liberal | Conservative | Other | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melody McCray-Miller | Wichita | 25 | 0 | 5 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ngoc Vuong (i) | Wichita | 12 | 0 | 4 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Jason Carmichael | Wichita | 0 | 16 | 0 | Lost | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stan Reeser (i) | Wichita | 10 | 0 | 3 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Emma Jones | Gardner Edgerton | 13 | 0 | 0 | Lost | |||||||||||||||||||
| Aleksandra Nokes | Gardner Edgerton | 12 | 0 | 1 | Lost | |||||||||||||||||||
| Clay Norkey | Blue Valley | 12 | 0 | 0 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Jodie Dietz (i) | Blue Valley | 12 | 0 | 0 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Katie Williams (i) | Gardner Edgerton | 11 | 0 | 1 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Will Babbit | Olathe | 11 | 0 | 0 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
| Claire Reagan | Olathe | 11 | 0 | 0 | Won | |||||||||||||||||||
Full endorsements list
The table below lists all endorsements identified by Ballotpedia among Kansas school board candidates in 2023. The list is sorted alphabetically by district name. Click the headers to adjust sorting or use the search bar to look for specific districts, candidates, or endorsers. If a source link is not functioning properly, all links were archived with the Internet Archive if possible.
Candidate information
Candidate ages
In Kansas, birthdate information is made publicly available in the state's voter file. Using this data, Ballotpedia found that the average school board candidate was 47.7 years old. This increased to 49.8 years old for Democrats and 47.9 for Republicans and decreased to 43.3 years old for all other candidates, respectively.
The table below shows the distribution of the 1,160 seats up for election based on the age range of the candidates who won those seats.
| Kansas school board election winners by age range, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age range | Uncontested | Contested | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||
| # | % | # | % | # | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| 18-24 | 1 | 0.2% | 3 | 0.5% | 4 | 0.3% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 25-34 | 38 | 6.6% | 39 | 6.7% | 77 | 6.6% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 35-44 | 217 | 37.5% | 203 | 34.9% | 420 | 36.2% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45-54 | 182 | 31.4% | 194 | 33.4% | 376 | 32.4% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 55-64 | 74 | 12.8% | 82 | 14.1% | 156 | 13.4% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 65-75 | 41 | 7.1% | 50 | 8.6% | 91 | 7.8% | ||||||||||||||||||
| 75+ | 16 | 2.8% | 8 | 1.4% | 24 | 2.1% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Unknown[5] | 10 | 1.7% | 2 | 0.3% | 12 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 579 | 581 | 1,160 | |||||||||||||||||||||
The graphic below shows how many candidates won and lost from each age range.
Candidates aged 45 to 54 had the highest win rate, at 70% overall and 55% in contested elections.
Candidates aged 18 to 24 had the lowest win rate, at 33% overall and 27% in contested elections.
Oldest and youngest candidates
The table below lists the 10 youngest and oldest candidates who ran in Kansas' school board elections in 2023. It also includes the district where they ran, whether the election was contested or uncontested in the general election, and their election results. Incumbents are marked with (i).
| Ten youngest and oldest Kansas school board candidates, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Age | District | Status | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Youngest candidates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| D.J. Meik | 19 | Pleasanton | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Landon J. Wolken | 19 | Chanute | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lotus Hernandez | 19 | Lansing | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Noah Svaty | 20 | Sterling | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Zain Labidi | 22 | Rose Hill | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nicholas Martisko | 22 | Inman | Cont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Clemente Rojo | 22 | Moscow | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Aaron Coleman | 23 | Turner-Kansas City | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nolan R. Foth | 23 | Manhattan-Ogden | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Ngoc Vuong (i) | 24 | Wichita | Cont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Oldest candidates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DeAnne Binns (i) | 86 | Baxter Springs | Cont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Brenda Scruggs Andrieu | 83 | Kansas City | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jessie Foister (i) | 83 | Labette County | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| James R. Cormode (i) | 81 | Atchison County | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lou Martino (i) | 81 | Parsons | Cont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bill Grove | 81 | McPherson | Cont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Shannon Spradlin | 80 | Hamilton | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Roger L. Breneman (i) | 80 | Girard | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| John A. Masterson | 80 | Iola | Uncont. | Won | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Kendall (i) | 80 | Kiowa County | Cont. | Lost | ||||||||||||||||||||
District information
Student-to-teacher ratio
The map below displays the student-to-teacher ratio in all Kansas school districts. Hover for additional district characteristics.
Partisan balance
Using publicly available voter registration information, Ballotpedia calculated the partisan balance of every Kansas school district.
- Registered Democrats make up a majority of voters in one school district and a plurality in five.
- Registered Republicans make up a majority of voters in 230 school districts and a plurality in 39.
- Independent and minor party voters make up a plurality in 10 school districts.
Use the links in the table below to view the 10 school districts in Kansas with the largest percentage of either Democratic or Republican voters or with the largest percentage of voters registered as independents or with a minor party.
Methodology
Terms and definitions
Descriptive endorsements
This research focuses on descriptive endorsements, those that help describe the stances or policy positions of a candidate. This is based on the assumption that endorsers tend to endorse candidates holding one or multiple positions that align with those of the endorser. If an endorser's positions are not readily apparent, their endorsements are not considered descriptive endorsements.
Examples of endorsers whose endorsements might be considered descriptive include political parties, issue-based organizations with clear policy stances, unions, current or former elected officials, and current or former party officers.
Apart from this section, any mention of endorsements refers to descriptive endorsements.
Endorser
An endorser is an individual or organization that has made a descriptive endorsement. Examples of which include, but are not limited to:
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Individuals:
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Organizations:
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Process
Identifying endorsements
Ballotpedia gathers endorsements using four primary methods:
- Submissions: Readers can submit endorsement information to Ballotpedia directly using this link. Ballotpedia staff reviews all submitted information daily to determine whether it warrants inclusion. Reader-submitted endorsements must include a link to a source verifying the endorsement to be included.
- Candidate Connection Surveys: Candidates who complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection Survey are asked to share any endorsements they have received. Any submitted endorsements will appear in the candidate's survey responses. Ballotpedia staff also reviews every survey with endorsement information to determine whether those submissions include descriptive endorsements to add to our overall tracking process. Candidates are invited to submit links to sources for their endorsements, but this is not required.[6]
- Outreach: Ballotpedia staff contacts endorsers directly to request endorsement lists. At the start of the election cycle, every endorser will receive an email requesting information. Ballotpedia staff also contacts endorsers to clarify information and, if we see they have endorsed one candidate, to determine whether they have also endorsed others.
- Direct research: Ballotpedia staff conducts direct research, regularly checking all identified endorsers and relevant news media in each state. This research might also include looking at specific districts or candidates where endorsement activity appears likely.
Recording endorsements
Once an endorsement has been identified, it is recorded along with the date it was made (if known), a link to the source of the endorsement, and the date Ballotpedia staff learned of the endorsement. If possible, Ballotpedia archives every web source used to identify an endorsement.
For every recorded endorsement, Ballotpedia staff prepare a brief summary of the endorser. For individuals, this might include the party they are affiliated with, their statements regarding a particular policy, or their electoral history. For organizations, this might include the standards by which they issue endorsements, their mission statement, or any other statements regarding a particular policy. When available, Ballotpedia uses direct quotes from endorsers in these summaries, which appear beside each endorsement to provide added context to readers.
Labeling
After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:
- Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party, supports traditionally liberal education policies, or opposes traditionally conservative education policies without also opposing traditionally liberal policies.
- Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party, supports traditionally conservative education policies, or opposes traditionally liberal education policies without also opposing traditionally conservative policies.
- Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, supportive or otherwise, examples of which include local newspapers.
- Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.
As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:
- Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
- Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
- Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
- Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.
While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.
Timing
Ballotpedia tracks and gathers endorsement information throughout the election cycle. If a district holds primary elections, endorsements are only added on-site after the primary date.
Voter registration
While most school board elections are officially nonpartisan, meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels, the state makes voter registration information publicly available. Ballotpedia used this information to identify each candidate's party registration in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Note: a candidate's party registration status does not necessarily indicate the candidate's personal ideologies. Many voters register to vote with one party and later find themselves more aligned with another party but do not update their registration as such. Understanding that their registration information is effectively public, voters may also choose a certain registration or affiliate with no party, with that in mind.
Ballotpedia first compared candidate names and school districts to the publicly available voter file to tie candidates with their party registration. The associated voter information was logged if the candidate’s name only appeared once in the school district. If the candidate’s name appeared multiple times in a single school district, Ballotpedia looked at each voter file entry to match the registration address with other identifiable information associated with the candidate. This method accounted for all duplicate entries.
If a candidate was registered under a different name than the one they filed to run with (i.e. registered as Robert Smith but running as Bob Smith), Ballotpedia used a variety of methods to pinpoint the candidate’s voter file information including:
- Looking for every person with the same last name as the candidate in the school district;
- Identifying known associates (i.e. children, spouses), and using public records to determine if any households had changed addresses;
- Utilizing publicly available social media information; or,
- A mixture of these three approaches.
Labeling
After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:
- Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party or supports traditionally liberal education policies.
- Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party or supports traditionally conservative education policies.
- Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, examples of which include local newspapers.
- Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.
As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:
- Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
- Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
- Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
- Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.
While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.
Voter registration
Kansas makes voter registration information publicly available. Ballotpedia used this information to identify each candidate's party registration. Note: a candidate's party registration status does not necessarily indicate the candidate's personal ideologies. Many voters register to vote with one party and, later on, find themselves more aligned with another party but do not update their registration as such. Understanding that their registration information is effectively public, voters may also choose a certain registration, or affiliate with no party, with that in mind.
To tie candidates with their party registration, Ballotpedia first compared candidate names and school districts to the publicly available voter file. If the candidate’s name only appeared once in the school district, the associated voter information was logged. If the candidate’s name appeared multiple times in a single school district, Ballotpedia looked at each voter file entry to match the registration address with other identifiable information associated with the candidate. This method accounted for all duplicate entries.
If a candidate was registered under a different name than the one they filed to run with (i.e. registered as Robert Smith but running as Bob Smith), Ballotpedia used a variety of methods to pinpoint the candidate’s voter file information including:
- Looking for every person with the same last name as the candidate in the school district;
- Identifying known associates (i.e. children, spouses), and using public records to determine if any households had changed addresses;
- Utilizing publicly available social media information; or,
- A mixture of these three approaches.
Elections by county
Navigate to Kansas 2023 local elections overviews:
Allen | Anderson | Atchison | Barber | Barton | Bourbon | Brown | Butler | Chase | Chautauqua | Cherokee | Cheyenne | Clark | Clay | Cloud | Coffey | Comanche | Cowley | Crawford | Decatur | Dickinson | Doniphan | Douglas | Edwards | Elk | Ellis | Ellsworth | Finney | Ford | Franklin | Geary | Gove | Graham | Grant | Gray | Greeley | Greenwood | Hamilton | Harper | Harvey | Haskell | Hodgeman | Jackson | Jefferson | Jewell | Johnson | Kearny | Kingman | Kiowa | Labette | Lane | Leavenworth | Lincoln | Linn | Logan | Lyon | Marion | Marshall | McPherson | Meade | Miami | Mitchell | Montgomery | Morris | Morton | Nemaha | Neosho | Ness | Norton | Osage | Osborne | Ottawa | Pawnee | Phillips | Pottawatomie | Pratt | Rawlins | Reno | Republic | Rice | Riley | Rooks | Rush | Russell | Saline | Scott | Sedgwick | Seward | Shawnee | Sheridan | Sherman | Smith | Stafford | Stanton | Stevens | Sumner | Thomas | Trego | Wabaunsee | Wallace | Washington | Wichita | Wilson | Woodson | Wyandotte
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ The number of elections and seats differs due to the presence of multi-member districts.
616 elections were for single seats.
Five elections were for two seats.
15 elections were for three seats.
116 elections were for four seats.
Five elections were for five seats - ↑ An open seat is one guaranteed to newcomers. If an incumbent ran for re-election but lost in the primary, that seat would not be considered open. If an incumbent ran for re-election but later withdrew, that seat would be considered open.
- ↑ Contested elections refer to any with more candidates running than seats available, meaning at least one candidate must lose.
- ↑ These totals only include those candidates who received an endorsement and appeared on the general election ballot.
- ↑ Ballotpedia could not determine these candidates' ages.
- ↑ Candidates regularly list endorsements on their campaign websites with no attribution, meant to be taken as true at face value. The same applies to endorsements submitted through surveys. Ballotpedia does not fact-check candidate-submitted information. However, if a candidate submits false information and Ballotpedia learns of this at a later time, their survey responses will be updated to reflect that information.
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