Many Kansas counties conducted their formal vote canvasses Monday to certify the primary election vote from last week.
All eyes are still on the Republican nomination for governor, which has Secretary of State Kris Kobach leading Gov. Jeff Colyer by less than 150 votes — a bit of an increase from the 110-vote margin last week despite movement in Colyer’s favor across much of the KVOE listening area Monday. Colyer had a net gain of one vote each in Lyon and Chase counties, with a net gain of two votes in Coffey County and seven in Osage County. That was in sharp contrast to the Greenwood County vote, where Kobach’s net gain of 12 votes nullified Colyer’s gains elsewhere in the KVOE listening area.
Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat says her staff sifted through the results and sorted the provisionals into several categories before presenting them for consideration. She tells KVOE News the 2018 primary drives home one simple point when it comes to elections at all levels.
Board of Canvassers member Rollie Martin says Lyon County’s process — and results — are being echoed across the state.
Under the eye of Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine, representing Colyer, and Kobach representative Leah Burkhead, nearly 90 provisional ballots were considered in Lyon County. Most were approved, although:
*Twenty-four were not allowed because voters were not registered in Lyon County
*One was not allowed because an out-of-county registration was canceled.
*Two were not allowed because voter registrations were canceled.
*One was not allowed because the voter did not provide proper identification.
*Nine were not allowed because the voters had declared as a member of one party but wanted to vote the other party’s ballot.
Morris County has its canvass Tuesday, while Wabaunsee County won’t canvass its votes until Aug. 20.
The Republican winner will face Democrat Laura Kelly and independent Greg Orman in the general election this November.
Lyon County
Unofficial Official
Jim Barnett: 921 933
Jeff Colyer: 1090 1101
Kris Kobach: 1022 1031
Patrick Kucera: 25 25
Tyler Ruzich: 16 16
Ken Selzer: 179 181
Joseph Tutera: 3 3
Chase County
Jim Barnett: 105 105
Jeff Colyer: 188 189
Kris Kobach: 184 184
Patrick Kucera: 0 0
Tyler Ruzich: 1 1
Ken Selzer: 43 44
Joseph Tutera: 0 1
Coffey County
Jim Barnett: 215 215
Jeff Colyer: 571 579
Kris Kobach: 590 596
Patick Kucera: 3 3
Tyler Ruzich: 6 6
Ken Selzer: 146 149
Joseph Tutera: 5 5
Greenwood County
Jim Barnett: 111 112
Jeff Colyer: 478 480
Kris Kobach: 522 536
Patrick Kucera: 1 1
Tyler Ruzich: 1 1
Ken Selzer: 48 48
Joseph Tutera: 2 2
Morris County
Jim Barnett: 120
Jeff Colyer: 370
Kris Kobach: 318
Patrick Kucera: 9
Tyler Ruzich: 1
Ken Selzer: 87
Joseph Tutera: 3
Provisional ballots: 18
Vote canvass: 8:30 am Aug. 14
Osage County
Jim Barnett: 287 294
Jeff Colyer: 840 858
Kris Kobach: 870 881
Patrick Kucera: 20 20
Tyler Ruzich: 12 13
Ken Selzer: 212 214
Joseph Tutera: 7 7
Wabaunsee County
Jim Barnett: 162
Jeff Colyer: 563
Kris Kobach: 586
Patrick Kucera: 8
Tyler Ruzich: 4
Ken Selzer: 128
Joseph Tutera: 5
Provisional ballots: 34
Vote canvass: Aug. 20
7 am Monday: Vote canvasses begin Monday to certify last week’s primary election, possibly finalize Republican gubernatorial candidate
Most area counties will certify their primary election results Monday.
Lyon, Chase, Coffey, Greenwood and Osage counties will have their official vote canvass activities Monday morning. The vote canvasses are typically a formality, but this year they take on the utmost importance with the Republican gubernatorial nomination riding on the result. Statewide, Secretary of State Kris Kobach leads Gov. Jeff Colyer by 110 votes out of almost 255,000 votes just between the two candidates. Areawide, Colyer leads by eight votes out of almost 8,200 votes between the two candidates.
KVOE News will be checking in with our area counties to see how vote totals change as provisional ballots are tallied. Vote canvasses are allowed statewide through Aug. 20.
