TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas plans to do a partial hand recount of this month’s decisive vote in favor of abortion rights that gained’t change the end result after abortion opponents charged virtually $120,000 to bank cards Monday to cowl the price.
The Kansas secretary of state’s workplace stated the recount will happen in 9 of the state’s 105 counties that account for greater than half of the votes forged on the Aug. 2 abortion poll query, together with 4 of the state’s 5 most populous counties. The no aspect prevailed in eight of the 9 counties.
The recount request got here Friday from Melissa Leavitt, an election conspiracy promoter from Colby in far western Kansas, however Mark Gietzen, a hard-right anti-abortion activist from Wichita who additionally promotes election conspiracies, pledged to assist pay for the recount. Gietzen used a bank card to pay for all however $1,500 of the prices, the determine for Leavitt’s dwelling of Thomas County, the one one of many 9 counties the place the anti-abortion aspect prevailed.
Folks cheer at a watch get together in Overland Park, Kansas, after studying that voters rejected a state constitutional modification that may have allowed the Legislature to limit or ban abortion, late Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Angie Ricono/KCTV5 by way of Related Press
Voters on Aug. 2 overwhelmingly rejected a proposed modification to the Kansas Structure that may have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to additional limit abortion or ban it. The “no” aspect prevailed by 18 share factors or 165,000 votes. For the 9 counties doing the recount, the margin was 31 share factors.
There was no proof of great issues with the election. Baseless election conspiracies have circulated extensively within the U.S., notably amongst supporters of former President Donald Trump, who has repeated false claims that he misplaced the 2020 election by way of fraud.
State Elections Director Bryan Caskey initially rejected Leavitt’s proposal to make use of Gietzen’s “monetary property” for the required bond to cowl the $229,000 in prices for a statewide recount. He gave her till 5 p.m. Monday to search out an alternate but in addition informed her that the request could possibly be narrowed to particular counties to decrease the prices.
Leavitt didn’t instantly reply to a phone message Monday night searching for remark, however she has a web based fundraising effort and had obtained greater than $41,000 in donations as of Monday night.
“We’re getting lots of donations in,” Gietzen stated. “We’re fundraising so much proper now.”
Kansas regulation says the individual searching for a recount pays for it until it adjustments the end result, through which case counties do.
The Kansas secretary of state’s workplace says counties have 5 days, till Saturday, to complete their recount. State regulation contemplates beginning the clock when a recount request is made — making the deadline 5 p.m. Wednesday — however Whitney Tempel, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s workplace, stated it was attempting to be “accommodating” and can ask the Legislature to rewrite the regulation subsequent 12 months.
Some counties didn’t end compiling their closing outcomes till Monday, the final day they may accomplish that, as a result of they have been reviewing provisional ballots forged by voters when ballot employees weren’t certain they have been eligible.
These counties included Douglas County in northeastern Kansas, which is dwelling to the principle College of Kansas campus, the place preliminary outcomes confirmed 81.5% of voters had rejected the proposed abortion modification. County Clerk Jamie Shew, an elected Democrat, stated he made plans to herald 18 to twenty folks to do the recount and begin Tuesday.
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