Anti-abortion activists are forcing a recount of the Aug. 2 referendum on abortion in nine counties.
The request was granted by the Kansas Secretary of State’s office when the proponents put forth almost $120,000 to go toward the laborious effort of recounting the votes by hand.
The activists’ initial goal was a statewide recount of all 105 counties, which required raising $229,300, which they failed to do by Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline.
The targeted counties are the most densely populated and include Shawnee, Douglas, Johnson, Crawford and Sedgwick, which represent more than half of the 922,321 votes cast.
The Aug. 2 primary election tally went heavily in favor of keeping a woman’s right to abortion under the state constitution. Kansas law bans abortion after 22 weeks and includes a host of other stipulations.
The “Value Them Both” ballot measure would have amended the state constitution to say it does not protect abortion rights and would have given lawmakers license to further restrict or ban abortion.
The measure failed by 18 percentage points, or 165,000 votes.
THOSE IN THE anti-abortion camp aren’t buying it and have charged county election officials with fraud.
In her request for the recount, Melissa Leavitt of Colby claimed she had “seen data” suggesting “irregularities” in the vote totals, despite a lack of evidence.
Leavitt and Mark Gietzen of Wichita are spearheading the recount effort. Both are known for their election conspiracy stances that maintain “dark” forces are pulling the levers. In the run-up to the Aug. 2 election Gietzen filed a lawsuit in Sedgwick County District Court challenging the state’s use of ballot drop boxes, alleging they encourage illegal voting. In a follow-up interview with the Wichita Eagle, Gietzen acknowledged he has no evidence of voter fraud at the ballot drop boxes.
Gietzen, who is president of the Kansas Republican Assembly, an offshoot of the state Republican Party, as well as director of the Kansas Coalition for Life, maintains this week’s recount will change the outcome of the Aug. 2 vote.
Kansas law says those seeking a recount pay for the expense unless it changes the outcome, in which case counties do.
Gietzen picked up the bulk of the $120,000 fee after his initial offer to use his house as collateral was rebuffed.
Election officials are required to conduct the recount by Friday afternoon. In Johnson County alone that’s more than 250,000 ballots to be individually handled; another 150,000 ballots in Sedgwick County.
WITH NO PROOF to back their claims, the recount request by Leavitt and Gietzen is specious at best, and at its worst, an insult to all those who work to protect the integrity of our elections.
