Kansas to recount abortion amendment vote

The elections director in Kansas has confirmed that the state will proceed with a request for votes to be hand counted from every county after last week’s statewide vote on abortion rights.

The difference was significant with “No” receiving more than 165,000 votes than “Yes,” according to unofficial results. The results remain unofficial as several counties still have to certify their results. The vote was on whether to remove the right to abortion from the state constitution.

Melissa Leavitt, of Colby in far western Kansas, requested the recount and turned down the opportunity to address reporters, stating that she had work obligations. Leavitt did make an announcement on her crowdfunding site, which raised funds for a recount that she had “seen data” about the election. Leavitt didn’t go into further detail regarding the data.

Kansas’s Secretary of State’s Office confirmed the recount and said that a bond of $200,000 was paid for it to commence.

Kansas elections director Bryan Caskey said he will respect the request for a re-count, which he noted would be the first one in 30 years for the state of Kansas. “Normally, they reinforce the Election Day results, we stand by the results and will do the recount,” Caskey said.

Sheriff Calvin Hayden has been involved in election-related investigation for months.

“I have never done an audit like this, but I believe that God has put us all here ‘for such a time as this’ to stand up and fight for our nation,” Leavitt wrote on her crowd-funding page. “We must do what we can before it’s too late.”

“Kansans bluntly rejected anti-abortion politicians’ attempts at creating a reproductive police state,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, who is the executive director of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. ” Today’s vote was a powerful rebuke and a promise of the mounting resistance.”

President Biden also praised the result of the vote. “This vote makes clear what we know: the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions,” Biden said in a statement.