Kobach recuses self from Kansas governor vote count

Facing mounting pressure, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday he would recuse himself from overseeing the vote-counting process in the too-close-to call Kansas Republican gubernatorial primary. Kobach is battling incumbent Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer for a chance to run against Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly in November. Colyer, the state’s former lieutenant governor, took office after former Gov. Sam Brownback was confirmed in January as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

Kobach served as vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded commission on election integrity and received the president’s endorsement in Tuesday’s primary. He initially told Fox News he had no plans to recuse himself from the ballot count because as secretary of state he oversees elections but county officials actually count the votes. When Colyer demanded otherwise, Kobach changed his mind.

Kobach’s initial lead of 191 votes shrank Thursday to just 121 out of the 311,000 votes cast after two counties flagged discrepancies between their counts and reports on the secretary of state’s website. Colyer accused Kobach in a letter Thursday of giving county election officials instructions “inconsistent with state law.” He said Kobach’s office told election officials not to count ballots with smudged postmarks. Colyer also hinted he may demand a recount or seek to settle the matter in court.

State law mandates the acceptance of mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday provided they arrive by Friday, and county officials will review several thousand provisional ballots before an Aug. 20 deadline.