Kansas Orders Hand-Count Audits in Six Tight Races, Including Governor

Six Kansas races finished within 1 percentage point on election night, enough to trigger hand-count audits of ballots in the contests for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office announced Wednesday.

Three Kansas House seats are also under review: Districts 27, 40 and 117. WIBW reported that it is the first time three statewide Kansas races in the same election have been this close.

Where the margins stand

After updated counts Wednesday, Democrat Cindy Holscher led Republican Ty Masterson by 6,449 votes in the governor’s race, the Johnson County Post reported. The Associated Press had not called the race, according to KSHB 41.

In the secretary of state’s race, Republican Pat Proctor led Democrat Jennifer Day by slightly more than 10,000 votes, the Johnson County Post said. In the attorney general’s race, challenger Chris Mann told WIBW it was “a mathematical improbability” for Attorney General Kris Kobach to close the gap. Kobach did not respond to the station’s request for comment.

How the Kansas audit works

State law, K.S.A. 25-3009, requires a close-race audit when unofficial election-night results show a margin of 1% or less of total votes cast. County election officials hand count ballots from 10% of precincts in each county for the affected race and compare the totals with the results from the voting tabulators, according to the secretary of state’s office. The review comes on top of the routine post-election audit, which covers at least one precinct per county.

State Election Director Bryan Caskey told WIBW that mail ballots postmarked by Election Day were still being added to the count.

Statements from the governor candidates

Holscher declared victory Wednesday morning, saying she was “deeply honored” by the trust Kansans had placed in her, the Johnson County Post reported. Gov. Laura Kelly congratulated her as “governor-elect.”

Masterson said in a statement that the first count “does not seem to be going our way, but the margin is narrow enough that Kansas law calls for another look, and we’ll let that process finish,” KSHB 41 reported.

Developing: The governor’s race has not been called, and county hand counts for all six audits are set to begin over the next several days.

Sources: Kansas Secretary of State, KSHB 41, Johnson County Post, WIBW.