Kansas Governor's Race Enters Mandatory Hand-Count Audit; Six Close Races Under Review, Mail Ballots Accepted Through Friday

TOPEKA, Kansas — The Kansas governor's race remains uncalled, and Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced on November 4 a mandatory "close-race audit." Under Kansas law, federal, statewide and legislative races decided by less than 1 percent of total votes cast on election night must undergo the check. Six races qualify this cycle: governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and Kansas House Districts 27, 40 and 117.

In the governor's race, Democrat Cindy Holscher has 549,974 votes to 542,929 for Republican Ty Masterson, a lead of 7,045 votes, or 0.64 percent of about 1.09 million ballots cast, with an estimated 98.7 percent of votes counted. Holscher declared victory on Wednesday morning; Masterson has not conceded.

The audit began on Thursday, November 5, with county workers hand-counting paper ballots from 10 percent of precincts in every county and comparing the totals with the machine counts. Counties are to finish over the weekend, before county commissions begin certifying results on Monday. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day still count if they arrive by Friday, November 6, and provisional ballots remain under review, with their number not yet published. Masterson has until 5 p.m. on November 17 to request a full recount; under Kansas law the state pays for a machine recount only if the margin is 0.5 percent or less, so at the current 0.64 percent gap Masterson would have to pay for it himself unless the margin narrows further.

(Source: Kansas Secretary of State)

Source: Kansas Secretary of State

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：堪萨斯州议会大厦，位于托皮卡。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0。 / Photo: The Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.