A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with only 63 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday. Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, is covering most of the costs. Gietzen acknowledged in an interview that it was unlikely to change the outcome.
Kansas Secretary of State, Scott Schwab, says the result shows there’s no fraud in the Kansas Election System and that Kansans should be confident that the results put to rest the unfounded claims of election fraud in the state. He assures the elections are secure and the votes were counted properly. After the recounts, “no” votes lost 57 votes and the “yes” side gained 6 votes. The Value Them Both Amendment failed by 18%, 165,000 votes statewide.
