No votes at all
FORT RILEY — Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh confirms that no votes in Tuesday’s election came from 14 precincts at Fort Riley.
No votes were cast at the Geary County section of the base despite nearly 600 registered voters.
Thornburgh says low turnout in the area is common. In the 2006 primary, only two people voted. Fifteen people voted in November 2006. But Thornburgh says zero votes is “highly unusual,” though many of the registered voters are deployed or out-of-state.
The Kansas City Star reports the absent tally stood out when the closely contested 2nd Congressional District Republican primary between Lynn Jenkins and Jim Ryun was examined.
Fort Riley spokeswoman Deb Skidmore says a voting assistance officer reached out to 95 percent of all soldiers and their families living on post to make sure they knew how and where to vote.
Predator captured
LARNED — The Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department says a 50-year-old convicted sex offender who escaped from Larned State Hospital has been captured.
Perry Lee Isley Jr. is part of Sexual Predator Treatment Program at the central Kansas hospital. The sheriff’s department on Thursday confirmed Isley had been found. No other details were released.
Officials are investigating if someone assisted Isley’s escape. A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services says Isley apparently hid in a laundry bin and used a tool to cut through security fences.