Kansans voted for the new personalized license plate, with the design of the Flint Hills winning more than 56% of the vote. (Kansas Department of Revenue)

TOPEKA — The next personalized license plate will feature the Flint Hills design after more than 30,000 Kansans voted among five potential designs.

Kansas Department of Revenue spokesman Zach Denny said the design was the “clear favorite,” receiving more than 56% of the vote.

The new design will be ready for purchase in 2025 for $45.50 at county treasurer’s offices.

The “Powering the Future” personalized plate, the 2020 design that featured a sunset and wind turbines, will no longer be available after Jan. 1, 2025. Kansans with the “Powering the Future” plate must replace their plate during their next renewal period to keep their personalized plate text, Denny said.

“We know how passionate Kansans are about license plates, and this initiative aims to give the public a direct say in selecting the next personalized plate design that will be featured on vehicles across the state for years to come,” KDOR Division of Vehicles director David Harper said in a statement at the beginning of the vote.

The new personalized plate, which is available along with many distinctive plates, comes after last year’s controversy around the standard plate design.

The first design for the state’s new standard plate was met with bipartisan criticism, with complaints that it looked too much like the University of Missouri’s colors and that it looked like the state of New York’s standard plate. Gov. Laura Kelly pulled the plate from production and allowed Kansans to vote on alternate designs. More than half the votes went to a design featuring the state Capitol.

As of January 2024, KDOR started to replace the old standard plate with the new one.

A KDOR statement said feedback during the voting process for the standard plate led to the decision to hold another vote for the personalized plate.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Police arrested a man in his seventies after a quick-thinking woman grabbed her camera to get picture proof of what her daughter and a friend experienced.

Vicente Heredia is charged with sexual misconduct involving a child under 15.

The woman, her 14-year-old daughter, and her daughter’s 13-year-old friend were sitting on a Kansas City, Mo., bench in April.

They later reported to police that a man exposed himself to the two teenagers as he sat nearby.

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According to a probable cause statement, the woman took a picture of what happened. She reported the incident to police and also gave detectives the pictures.

Officers used the pictures to identify the man as Heredia. The probable cause statement shows there have been “numerous reports with Kansas City Missouri Police Department where he was exposing his genitals.”

Heredia is scheduled to be in court on Wednesday.

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Court records show Heredia was previously convicted of first-degree sexual misconduct in Jackson County in 2017.

Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.

Kansans show up to vote in the Aug. 5 primary election. (Maya Smith for Kansas Reflector)

Big money thought it could hornswoggle Kansas Democrats in the 35th District into selecting Rep. Marvin Robinson as their candidate.

Robinson, for those of you outside the Kansas City area, essentially swapped parties in 2023, siding with Republicans on hot-button issues. Groups that usually boost Republican candidates swamped his district with deceptive mailers touting supposed accomplishments. The most shameless by far swiped former President Barack Obama’s “O” logo and images of the Democratic leader.

Voters didn’t fall for it. They selected educator Wanda Brownlee Paige instead. She won a whopping 49% of the vote, while Robinson trailed with 22% and two others followed him.

This was one of the most heartening results from primaries held Tuesday, an example of how voters can stand up against the interest groups that usually dominate Kansas politics. Along the same lines, moderate GOP stalwarts Sen. Barbara Dietrich and Rep. Mark Schreiber won their respective races. Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden lost his reelection bid, showing that even Republicans have tired of election conspiracy-mongering.

On the other hand, we could have done more.

I’ve encouraged Kansans to step up and participate in the electoral process using the metaphor of a board game.

If you don’t play, not only can’t you win, but you can’t even affect the outcome.

Unfortunately, numbers from early Wednesday showed that only 16.1% of Kansas voters bothered. That equals 318,728 ballots from nearly 2 million registered voters. Put another way, that means 1.68 million Kansans who could vote didn’t.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab suggested beforehand that turnout might be comparable to that in 2016’s primary, in which 24% of voters cast ballots. More ballots will likely be added to this year’s total as elections officials complete their work, but Kansans sure didn’t set any records. We weren’t even close.

Mark my words. In early 2025, we will see polls and hear from Kansans upset about what the Kansas Legislature’s course.

They will wonder, once again, why our state can’t expand Medicaid health insurance coverage for families in need, why we can’t legalize even medical cannabis, and why budget proposals pander to millionaires and billionaires. They will be right to ask these questions. I’ll ask them too.

But Kansas voters had an opportunity this past week to choose a different course. They could have removed many barriers to progress at the Statehouse. With a handful of exceptions, they chose to stay at home or vote for familiar faces.

Already, a large swath of next year’s legislature has been decided.

Fifty-two candidates made it past their primaries and will run unopposed for the 125-member Kansas House. For those who prefer percentages, that means 42% of state representatives have been set. Nine candidates won’t face challengers for seats in the 40-member Kansas Senate. That’s 23% of state senators decided. As the saying goes, “Game over, man.”

Bernadette Kinlaw of the Southern Poverty Law Center explains the basics: “Your vote holds elected officials accountable for their actions. It forces them to listen to you and the issues that most concern you. Your vote is your report card on lawmakers. If you’re not content with the job an elected official has done, you can use your vote to remove that official from office.”

That goes for general elections and primaries.

Voting reshapes our government directly. Not taking to the streets, not posting on social media, not writing opinion columns. Kansans should do all those things when so moved, but they only go so far. Voting actually creates change.

That’s what makes the primary results bittersweet. At least a handful of voters understand the stakes. They rid themselves of unrepresentative embarrassments Robinson and Hayden. They didn’t need to be persuaded by big money or glossy mailers; they took the initiative on their own. Cheers to all who showed up and took a stand.

But many other folks couldn’t be bothered. They chose not to vote at all, allowing others to make choices for them.

Those 2 million registered Kansas voters will have another, smaller, set of choices in November.

We’ll see what happens then.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.