A partial recount of Kansas’ abortion rights vote will go ahead after frantic fundraising to pay for counting every ballot in the state falls short of the $230,000 needed. The nine counties that will be recounted are a far cry from the sweeping statewide recount envisioned by die-hard supporters of the Value Them Both amendment, which would have stripped abortion rights from the Kansas Constitution. Proponents of a recount eventually raised about $120,000, allowing them to pay for a recount in just a fraction of Kansas’ 105 counties. However, the recount will include several of the state’s largest counties — Johnson, Sedgwick, Douglas and Shawnee. The other counties are Crawford, Harvey, Jefferson, Lyon and Thomas. The recount is ultimately expected to cover about 59% of the ballots cast in the election. Eight of the nine recounted counties had a majority of residents vote “no.” Most of the cost will be charged to a credit card provided by Mark Gietzen, a longtime Wichita abortion activist who leads the far-right Kansas Republican Convention, the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office said. The amendment collapsed in a landslide defeat in the August 2 election. The 59 percent to 41 percent victory for the amendment’s opponents reverberated nationally after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade. The abortion rights side won the statewide referendum by more than 165,000 votes. Gitzen, a far-right activist who has suggested without evidence that the election was rigged, said in an interview that he helped raise $121,430.23 in the Kansas Republican Assembly account, including money from an online fundraiser. He said he authorized Melissa Leavitt, a Colby resident who requested the recount, to spend “every penny” on it. Some of the money came from private donations, credit cards and Gietzen’s Boeing pension fund. “A recount is step number one,” Gitchen said. “After that, we’ll do a sampling to find out if people who are listed as voters actually voted or if there was some kind of trickery going on.” The recounts will keep the rejected abortion amendment in the public eye as Republicans try to turn their attention to the general election. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the Republican nominee for governor, faces incumbent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in what is expected to be a highly competitive race. “It all fits into a pattern, if you will, of raising money from the faithful to run at windmills,” said state Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat who supports abortion rights but has been familiar with Gietzen since at least the early 1990s. . Carmichael said Gietzen has spent years raising money on the fringes of Kansas’ anti-abortion movements. His efforts, Carmichael said, “made no sense and never led to any meaningful progress for the pro-life movement.”
Waste of money?
Even some Republicans were disappointed by the decision. John Whitmer, a former state representative from Wichita who now hosts a conservative radio talk show, called the replay a “TOTAL WASTE of time and $$$!” on Twitter. In Johnson County, the recount is estimated to cost $74,5000. An estimate of $31,800 was given for Sedgwick County. Earlier Monday, Johnson County Board of Elections Commissioner Fred Sherman said if a recount is held, all ballots will be counted by precinct. A bipartisan panel of two — one Republican and one Democrat — will sort the ballots into yes and no piles, with extra piles in cases where a ballot was marked more than once or not marked at all, Sherman said. Each person in the group would count the piles. “If their totals don’t match, they start over,” Sherman said. The decision to scale back the recount came after days of wrangling among recount advocates and uncertainty over how much money they would put up. Leavitt, who has testified in the Legislature about unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, started the tumultuous process when she requested the recount Friday afternoon. Under Kansas law, applicants for a recount of original ballots must post a bond for the cost of the recount. If the election results do not change, the bond will be redeemed and distributed. While state law required the recount request to be submitted by 5 p.m. Friday, the law does not require the bond to be provided at the same time, according to Whitney Tempel, spokeswoman for Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab. Counties will have until Saturday to complete the recount. On Friday Leavitt provided the state elections office with a credit card from the Kansas Republican Convention that lacked the required $230,000 in credit. The office, however, temporarily accepted the credit card. The Kansas Republican Convention is a far-right group not affiliated with the official Kansas Republican Party. Over the years, he has taken a number of ultraconservative and anti-government positions, including opposition to fluoridated water among other issues. On Monday, Leavitt emailed the office that Gietzen’s financial assets — on TikTok she said included his home — would be posted as bond. Schwab’s office declined the bond, insisting instead on cash, check, cashier’s check or credit card with sufficient funds to cover the $229,334 cost of a recount. Leavitt eventually raised more than $40,000 on a crowdfunding platform. Gietzen, who helped abortion opponents take over the Sedgwick County Republican Party in the wake of the 1991 “Summer of Mercy” protests in Wichita, filed a lawsuit before the Aug. 2 election in a failed attempt to remove the ballots. The lawsuit was dismissed, but Gietzen is appealing. Without offering any evidence, Gietzen argued that the election was plagued by massive fraud. His allegations fit into a larger, nascent election conspiracy movement in Kansas that has made unsubstantiated claims of election malpractice, often centered on misinterpretations of election law or voter registration statistics. The primary yes campaign, the Value Them Both Coalition, distanced itself from the recount effort in a statement last week. The group reiterated that it was not involved in the recount on Monday. “Every citizen has the right to request a recount, but our focus now is to advance the cause of life in Kansas — not looking back to August 2,” said Danielle Underwood, spokeswoman for the Kansans for Life and the Value coalition. Them Both. in an email.
Kansas treasurer race count
State Sen. Caryn Tyson also filed a reduced bond for a recount in the state treasurer’s GOP primary on Monday. Tyson is in a tight race against state representative Stephen Johnson, an Assaria farmer. On Friday, Tyson called for a recount in 55 counties, which would cost more than $45,000. He eventually paid a bond for a more limited recount with a full recount in Cloud, Harvey, McPherson and Ottawa counties. He called for a partial recount in Dickinson and Barton counties. A recount will cost $2,570. Michael McGraw, campaign manager for Democratic incumbent Treasurer Lynn Rogers, expressed disappointment that Schwab’s office allowed Tyson to change her request after the deadline. “The fact is, this is the result of them indulging the election deniers, the big lie and the extremists,” McGraw said. This is a developing story and will be updated. This story was originally published on August 15, 2022 at 6:09 pm. Related stories from the Kansas City Star Jonathan Shorman is the lead political reporter for the Kansas City Star, covering Kansas and Missouri politics and government. He previously covered the Kansas Statehouse for The Star and the Wichita Eagle. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas.
