Category: Election 2022

Secretary of state sets deadline for Colby resident to secure the money

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Anti-abortion activist Mark Gietzen expressed confidence Monday that $229,000 would be secured to finance a hand recount of more than 920,000 votes cast statewide on a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution restricting the right to abortion.

The Kansas secretary of state’s office set a 5 p.m. Monday deadline for delivery of cash, check or credit card with a sufficient line of credit to proceed with the county-by-county recount sought by supporters of the amendment disappointed by the initial outcome. The amendment fell short in the Aug. 2 primary election by a landslide margin of 59% to 41%.

Gietzen, chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life in Wichita and a prominent participant in anti-abortion protests in Wichita for more than 30 years, said he would pick up the torch of the recount effort launched by Colby resident Melissa Leavitt.

“There are an abundance of resources to get this done,” Gietzen said.

Gietzen also alleged — without evidence — the Kansas election earlier this month was distorted by “massive” election fraud through “ballot harvesting.” He asserted people illegally obtained, filled out and deposited ballots in drop boxes. He had filed a lawsuit in Sedgwick County before the August primary in an attempt to stop use of drop boxes, but it was tossed by a judge.

Gietzen said the recount of votes on the amendment in all 105 counties would be conducted “unless we get screwed over by the secretary of state.”

Originally, Gietzen offered a credit card of a conservative political organization to leverage the recount. Leavitt later she was grateful Gietzen agreed to “put his home up for the recount,” but encouraged others to continue donating to the cause.

Leavitt informed the secretary of state’s office at 4 a.m. Monday that Gietzen’s assets would be sufficient to cover a recount.

In a setback for the recount campaign, however, Leavitt was notified that she couldn’t rely on the value of Gietzen’s home to finance the recount.

Under state law, the person requesting the recount must file a bond, approved by the secretary of state, guaranteeing payment of all costs incurred by counties conducting a recount. If the recount flipped outcome of the abortion amendment vote, Leavitt wouldn’t be obligated to pay the cost. If the recount didn’t change the outcome, she would be responsible for compensating each county for cost of the recount.

Leavitt had until end of the business Monday to personally secure a pathway to $229,000 required to proceed with the challenge. Through an online fundraiser, Leavitt had received commitments of $29,900, or about 10% of the projected cost of the statewide review of ballots.

“Failure to do so will result in the recount request being canceled,” said Brian Caskey, director of elections for Secretary of State Scott Schwab.

In the alternative, Caskey said, Leavitt could amend her recount request to isolate the review to counties for which she could afford to pay the cost.

Ashley All, spokeswoman for the amendment opponent organization Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, said basis for the hypothetical recount was unclear.

“Kansans across the political spectrum voted overwhelmingly against this amendment,” All said. “In fact, 165,000 more Kansans voted ‘no.’ They sent a clear message that they want to protect the constitutional rights of women to make private medical decisions for themselves.”

Leavitt said she would continue to pray a miracle occurred in terms of advancing recount on the failed abortion amendment.

“What else can you do when you take a leap of faith? I don’t know,” she said on a social media thread. “I’m getting a lot of hate messages and stuff like that, but so far I’m doing OK and we’re going to keep pushing.”

On Monday, officials in Johnson, Shawnee and Sedgwick counties worked to certify election election results. That included votes for and against the constitutional amendment, which was sought to nullify a decision by the Kansas Supreme Court that a right to abortion existed in the Kansas Constitution.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/15/kansas-anti-abortion-activists-scramble-to-cover-229k-cost-of-abortion-amendment-recount/

Mere 314 votes out of 428,000 cast separate GOP rivals Johnson, Tyson

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — A narrow margin in the race for the Republican nomination for state treasurer triggered a new provision in state law requiring counties to conduct additional audits in especially close contests.

As of Thursday, state Rep. Steven Johnson held a slim 314-vote lead over opponent state Sen. Caryn Tyson. The race has not been called with mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday and received by Friday still to be tallied, along with provisional ballots.

The unofficial total shows Johnson with 214,262 votes to Tyson’s 213,948 in the Republican primary.

Then, a recently passed state law requires all 105 counties to audit an additional 10% of their precincts because the race was decided by less than 1% on election night. This special audit requires a hand count that will take place later this week, said state elections director Brian Caskey.

“Every county will have to convene a hand count board and count all of those precincts by hand and compare them with the machine total that verifies that everything worked correctly,” Caskey told reporters Wednesday.

Caskey said this additional audit will mean different things for different size counties. While rural counties may be asked to audit just one or two additional precincts, Johnson County will need to audit approximately 60 more.

The regular post-election audit requires each county to audit a statewide race, as well as a legislative and county race. Counties will also be asked to audit the constitutional amendment vote, Caskey said.

The state board of canvassers must certify race results for federal and state offices no later than Sept. 1.

Johnson and Tyson entered the GOP campaign for state treasurer with similar backgrounds. He is a farmer from Assaria and she is a farmer from Parker. Both have served since 2011 in the Legislature, playing important roles in crafting state tax policy as chairs of legislative committees.

The eventual winner will face Democratic state Treasurer Lynn Rogers in the November general election.

Caskey also addressed reports in Sedgwick and Johnson counties of understaffed polling places. He said there were reports of an abnormal amount of people calling in sick the morning of election day.

Unlike the November general election, August often presents challenges, such as vacations or preparations for school, that make finding a pool of backup volunteers more difficult, Caskey said.

“In November, I think both counties are going to work on creating a bigger pool of backup poll workers than they normally would,” Caskey said.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/04/narrow-gap-requires-triggers-audit-in-kansas-republican-state-treasurer-race/