This week, votes for the ballot measure on abortion rights will be recounted in nine counties in Kansas. This is an effort after the measure was defeated by a landslide vote. Anti-abortion advocates had wanted a statewide recount, but they were unable to put up enough finance to fund recounts in every county.
On August 2, voters in Kansas rejected by a large margin the “Value Them Both” ballot measure. If passed, it would have altered the state’s Constitution to indicate that it does not guarantee abortion rights and it would have given legislators the authority to regulate or outlaw abortion.
Melissa Leavitt, a resident of Kansas who describes herself as a “advocate for election integrity,” submitted a request for a recount before the deadline on Friday and has posted a $200,000 bond for it. As a result, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office confirmed that the state will carry out the recount.
Voters in Kansas are allowed to request recounts of ballot measures, but they are required to demonstrate that they have the financial means to do so if the recount does not end up changing the results of the election. However, any county in which the outcome gets changed would be responsible for covering the cost of the recount.
Mark Geitzen, anti-abortion activist, offered to fund the effort on behalf of Leavitt and told the Star he will do “whatever it takes” for the recount funding. However, the state rejected Mark’s attempt to pay the required bond by putting up his assets as collateral, such as his home, and stated that by Monday the full $230,000 bond has to be paid through credit or cash for the recount to take place.
According to the Associated Press, since only $120,000 was paid to the state, the majority of which was on Geitzen’s credit card, the recount is to take place in 9 of the state’s 105 counties: Thomas, Lyon, Jefferson, Harvey, Crawford, Douglas, and Shawnee, Sedgwick, and Johnson counties.
According to the Associated Press, the nine counties are going to cover more than half of the total votes casted in the ballot measure race. This is due to the fact that it includes key cities like Topeka and Wichita as well as the suburbs of Kansas City. The office of the Secretary of State has set a deadline of Saturday for the counties to finish the recounting of votes.
