By james art 
It’s Election Day in Kansas and voters are heading to the polls.
Polls are open until 7 p.m. today, and Topekan residents should see cool weather and partly sunny skies as they make their way to the polls to vote in the presidential race, Kansas congressional seats and a host of local races.
The spotlight is brighter in Kansas after a Kansas Speaks poll put Vice President Kamala Harris about 5 points behind former President Donald Trump, who won Kansas by 14 points in 2020 and 21 points in 2016.
We’ll be here throughout the day to bring you updates from across the state and throughout the evening as the latest results come in. Refresh the page and check back often.
11:01am: Auckland polling station sees ‘non-stop’ flow of voters
The Oakland Community Center saw a “non-stop” flow of voters Tuesday morning, said Gail Schwartzrock, supervising judge for that polling place at 801 NE Poplar Ave.
Election workers were busier Tuesday than in past elections, said Schwarzrock, who has been a supervising judge for eight years.
Nearly 270 voters cast ballots in the first three hours after the polls opened, she said.
“I definitely think it’s going to be a record year,” Schwarzrock said.
Poll workers at polling stations did not encounter any problems and voters received their ballots fairly quickly, she said.
“It was great,” Schwarzrock said. — The day flew by.
9:56 a.m.: South Hills Mennonite Church has a high turnout
Ninety-nine voters cast ballots in the first two hours of voting Tuesday at South Hills Mennonite Church, roughly twice what that polling place typically sees in a presidential election, Supervising Judge Carrie Cox said.
Tuesday marked the “third or fourth” presidential election Cox has overseen at that location at 511 SE 37th, she said. Election workers were “really busy” Tuesday but did not encounter any problems, Cox said.
“It’s going really smoothly,” she said. “I’m happy, for now.”
9:36 a.m.: The Kansas Democratic Party chairman predicts some election surprises
Kansas Democratic Party Chairwoman Jean Repass woke up and went to the polls first thing Tuesday morning and was met with big crowds and lots of energy.
“So I live in Johnson County and the polls in Johnson County open at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. and at 6 a.m. in the dark, my polling place was full and there was a steady stream of people,” Repass said. “I vote there all the time and there are a normal number of voting machines. The number of machines was double and they were all full and there was a steady stream of people queuing to get in at 6am this morning.’
Repass is an Overland Park resident and her polling place is at the Overland Park Fire Department. Ripas said she was impressed with the level of voter turnout and expects record turnout across the state.
“Our early voting numbers are already on track to break the record,” Repass said. “On the other hand, anecdotally, the fact that there were people standing in line in the dark this morning makes me feel like there’s going to be a record turnout.”
She also said it will probably be a better night than people expect.
“We’re going to need some time to figure it all out,” Repass said. “But I think we’re going to have a record night in Kansas in terms of our legislative races. I think we’re going to have some surprises where people didn’t think we were going to have pickups. we will keep at least one of our congressional seats in the base and pick up the second, but most importantly, the numbers for the kansas presidential election will surprise people.
8:45 a.m.: See democracy in action with the best photos of the Capital newspaper.
Check out some of our best photos from Election Day in Topeka, when voters went to the polls and volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure a smooth outcome.
8:31am: One polling site sees a fast start to the day
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1275 SW Boswell Ave., is again the polling place with 1,103 registered voters. In the past, the highest number of voters who turned out on Election Day was 567 voters.
Volunteer election judge observer Christine Nelson said she hopes to break that record today.
Nelson said the first hour of open voting was busy. In the first hour, she and her team of volunteers greeted about 75 voters.
This is Nelson’s fifth election volunteering, and she said her favorite part is interacting with all the strangers.
“I like just seeing all the people,” Nelson said. “Making sure they get out and voting and helping them with the election process, making sure everything is fair and done right.”
8:12am: Voters eager to ‘get out of the way’
Sydney Gibson and Tyler Karl showed up at 6:44 a.m. Tuesday to get a spot at the front of the line for the polls, which opened 16 minutes later at the Bishop Career Development Center on Topeka USD 501, 3601 SW 31 st. Temperatures were above 50 degrees as Gibson, 30, and Carle, 34, walked to the polling place from their nearby home.
They admitted that they had mistakenly thought that voting started at 6am
“I thought that was what it said online,” Gibson said.
The couple doesn’t usually vote this early in the morning, but they were both awake and “wanted to get it out of the way,” Gibson said. Asked if they had any thoughts on voting, Carle said: “Facts over feelings. That’s all.
(This story has been updated to add new information and photos.)
This article originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal: Live updates: Election day in Topeka and Kansas begins