DRAMA

Kobach to Recuse Self From Vote Count in Kansas Race

After Gov. Jeff Colyer accused Kris Kobach's office of telling county clerks not to count certain votes in the Republican primary.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach promised to recuse himself from the vote count in Kansas’ gubernatorial Republican primary on Thursday night under pressure from incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer. Colyer had urged Kobach, a prominent advocate for strict voter-ID laws and an anti-immigration activist, to step aside from the vote-counting amid reports of vote total discrepancies between the county level and the secretary of state’s office. The Kansas City Star reports the discrepancies have often added more votes to Kobach’s total than they do to Colyer’s total. Colyer’s campaign has also accused Kobach’s office of telling county clerks not to count “ballots with a smudged postmark” and claimed to have heard of instances of voter suppression. “Many Colyer voters had difficulties finding his name on the ballot, were forced to vote on provisional ballots, or were turned away outright for unknown reasons,” a Colyer campaign spokeswoman said. Colyer started a hotline for people to report “voter integrity” issues to his campaign, which some suspect means that he is gearing up for a court fight. Thomas County corrected its vote totals Thursday, finding a hundred extra votes for Colyer and significantly slimming Kobach’s lead.