Kobach to recuse himself from Kansas
governor's race recount
Send a link to a friend
[August 11, 2018]
By Gina Cherelus
(Reuters) - Kris Kobach, the Republican
candidate endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Kansas
governor's race, said he plans to recuse himself from the vote recount
after a correction in the total cut his lead to just 91 votes.
Kobach told CNN late on Thursday that as Kansas's current secretary of
state, he has no role in the counting or recounting of provisional
ballots, and that all the work is done at the county level.
"So there's really no point to it, but I said if my opponent wishes me
to I'd be happy to. But it's purely symbolic," Kobach said. "I'll be
happy to recuse myself."
In a letter to Kobach on Thursday, Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer wrote
that some clerks were given wrong information about which ballots to
count and requested that Kobach recuse himself from "rendering further
advice in these matters."
"I believe that the designation of the Attorney General as a neutral
party to advise county election officials on these matters will help
ensure the confidence of the voting public in the outcome of the primary
election," Colyer wrote.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Aug/11/images/ads/current/hartsburggrain_daily_sda_021115.png)
Kobach leads Colyer in the Republican primary by a razor-thin margin of
126,257 to 126,066, with potentially thousands more provisional and
absentee ballots outstanding.
Thomas County Clerk Shelly Harms confirmed to Reuters on Thursday that
Colyer's vote total had been corrected to 522, up 100 votes from the 422
initially reported.
Kobach told CNN he would formally respond to Colyer's request that he
recuse himself on Friday.
Kobach is a national leader of the push to restrict illegal immigration
and pass more restrictive voting laws. He advised Trump's presidential
campaign on immigration issues and served as vice chairman of Trump's
short-lived voter fraud commission.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/081118pics/news_v41.jpg)
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach talks about the Kansas voter
ID law that he pushed to combat what he believes to be rampant voter
fraud in the United States in his office in Topeka, Kansas, U.S., on
May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Dave Kaup/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
In a Twitter post on Monday, Trump called Kobach "a strong and early
supporter of mine" and said he had the president's "full and total"
endorsement. "Strong on Crime, Border & Military. VOTE TUESDAY!"
Trump wrote.
Colyer, the former lieutenant governor, moved into the top job
earlier this year when Republican Sam Brownback took a job as the
Trump administration's ambassador for religious freedom.
Kansas state law allows for a recount if the vote margin is within
half a percentage point, but the candidate has to request the
recount. The candidate who requests the recount must pay for it if
the results are unchanged by that process, Kobach has said.
(Adds word "to" in headline)
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Aug/11/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png) |