OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Decisive national vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed in a partial manual recount, with less than 100 votes changing after the last precinct reported results Sunday.
Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who sought tougher election laws. Most of the costs are covered by longtime anti-abortion activist Mark Gitsen. In an interview, Hitzen admitted that it was unlikely to change the outcome.
A “no” vote in the referendum indicated a desire to maintain existing abortion protections, while a “yes” vote was to allow the legislature to tighten restrictions or ban abortions. After the recount of votes, “against” lost 57 votes, “for” – 6 votes.
Eight from the counties reported their results by Saturday’s statewide deadline, but Sedgwick County delayed releasing the final vote count until Sunday because spokeswoman Nicole Gibbs said some ballots were not split into the correct precincts during the initial count and had to be returned on Saturday. According to her, the total number of votes has not changed.
A larger-than-expected voter turnout on Aug. 2 rejected a ballot measure that would have removed protections for abortion rights from the Kansas Constitution and given the legislature the power to further restrict or ban abortions. He fell short by 18 percentage points, or 165,000 votes statewide.
The vote drew widespread attention because it was the first state referendum on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Hitzen of Wichita and Leavitt of Colby in far northwest Kansas suggested there might be problems, without giving many examples.
Vote counting is increasingly a tool to encourage a candidate’s supporters or to make them believe that the election was stolen rather than lost. A wave of candidates repeating former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was rigged have called for a recount after losing the Republican primary.
Kansas state law requires a recount if those requesting it prove they can cover the county’s costs. Counties only pay if the result changes.
According to the secretary of state, Leavitt and Hitzen provided credit cards to pay nearly $120,000. Leavitt has an online fundraising page. Gitsen also said he receives donations from a network built over three decades in the anti-abortion movement.
Hitzen said Sunday that he does not accept the results of the Sedgwick County recount because of discrepancies in the way the ballots were sorted and because some recounts took place on Saturday without outside observers.
“We still don’t know what happened in Sedgwick County. I will not pay for Sedgwick County, he said.
He said he was also concerned about the statewide results because of a report from Cherokee County in southeastern Kansas that election results in one county were split between two candidates when the results were flashed from one voting machine to machine for summarizing results.
Hitzen said he plans to file a lawsuit Monday demanding a full statewide recount.
Hitzen said he won’t publicly release the names of private donors who help him fund the recount, even though a state ethics official says it’s necessary. Hitzen, who heads the GOP’s small caucus, the Kansas Republican Assembly, says he is not campaigning for anti-abortion measures but instead promotes election integrity.
Votes were counted in Douglas County, where the main campus of the University of Kansas is located; Johnson County, in the suburbs of Kansas City; Sedgwick County, where Wichita resides, Shawnee County, where Topeka resides; and Crawford, Harvey, Jefferson, Lyon and Thomas counties. Opponents of abortion lost all of those counties except Thomas.
In Jefferson County, the margin remained the same, and the numbers for and against the amendment dropped by four votes each. Linda Batron, the county clerk, blamed the change on things like the ovals not being darkened and “problems with manual ballot counting.”
In Lyon County, the anti-amendment group lost the vote. County Clerk and Board of Elections Officer Tammy Wopat said she did not know the reason. But she noted, “You have to allow for human error.”
Johnson County, the most populous in Kansas, faced the biggest challenge in counting votes because it had the most ballots. Employees of various departments were brought in to help. The sorting process took so long that the actual counting did not begin until Thursday afternoon.
“It’s almost like doing an Ironman triathlon and adding another marathon at the end,” said Fred Sherman, the county’s election commissioner. “So it’s a pretty gigantic process.”
Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas. Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.
This story has been corrected to show that the anti-abortion activist planned to file a lawsuit seeking a full statewide recount, not a recall.
https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/national/article_69e0fce8-fd9e-5ff8-ba58-94e23566f475.html
