Editing Ellis County, Kansas (section)

==Government==

===Presidential elections===
{{Hidden
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|header     = Presidential election results
|content    =
{{PresHead|place=Ellis County, Kansas|source=<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |title = Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|9,743|3,511|314|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|9,758|3,737|361|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|8,466|2,742|854|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|8,399|3,057|258|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|8,207|4,010|230|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|7,891|4,033|263|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|6,516|3,926|718|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|6,809|4,142|1,001|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|3,985|4,544|3,924|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|5,194|5,289|189|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|7,509|3,457|133|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|5,634|3,940|1,150|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,719|6,280|241|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|5,463|4,113|237|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|3,944|3,809|688|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|2,440|5,553|27|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|3,156|5,815|6|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|4,466|3,058|4|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|4,882|2,528|3|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|2,676|3,863|67|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|3,369|2,218|16|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|3,622|3,299|25|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,622|4,834|13|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,465|4,449|56|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|1,700|3,364|11|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|1,763|842|1,197|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|2,385|740|48|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,186|2,335|87|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|175|1,381|573|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|768|1,421|37|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|1,009|928|39|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|627|1,228|14|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|460|1,051|22|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1892|Populist|546|0|1,083|Kansas}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Democratic|690|756|107|Kansas}}
}}<!-- End of Hidden template -->

Ellis County is an anomaly in western Kansas, having voted several times for [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] presidential candidates, even when the vast majority of the state's 105 counties went for the [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] nominee. This is due to the county's distinctive (in Kansas) German Catholic heritage, contrasting with the Southern “[[Bible Belt]]” or [[Yankee]] heritage of most rural Kansas counties. It was the solitary county in Kansas to support Catholic [[Al Smith]] over Herbert Hoover in 1928, when Kansas was Hoover's strongest state nationwide, and also was won by [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1960 by almost thirty percent as one of only two Kansas counties to back the Massachusetts senator. Ellis County bucked the national and statewide trend by voting for [[Michael Dukakis]] over winner [[George H. W. Bush]] in the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]], one of only three Kansas counties to go for Dukakis. Ellis County gave a plurality to [[Bill Clinton]] over Bush and [[Ross Perot]] in the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]], but has been solidly in the Republican column since, giving 66 percent to Republican [[John McCain]] to 32 percent for Democrat [[Barack Obama]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]], higher than the 57 percent McCain won statewide.<ref>[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2008&fips=20&f=1&off=0&elect=0 2008 Presidential General Election Results - Kansas]</ref>

===Laws===
[[Wild Bill Hickok]] served as sheriff in 1870. Ellis County was a prohibition, or [[dry county|"dry"]], county until the [[Kansas Constitution]] was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement. The food sales requirement was removed with voter approval in 1988.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ksrevenue.org/abcwetdrymap.htm |title=Map of Wet and Dry Counties |publisher=Alcoholic Beverage Control, Kansas Department of Revenue |date=November 2006 |access-date=December 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008013617/http://www.ksrevenue.org/abcwetdrymap.htm |archive-date=October 8, 2007 }}</ref>