Narrow Republican primary race for Kansas treasurer triggers post-election audit
A close Republican primary for Kansas treasurer has triggered a heightened post-election audit in Johnson County, along with every other county across the state, as the two GOP candidates seeking the party’s nomination were separated by a mere 312 votes on Wednesday evening.
Unofficial results from the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office showed Rep. Steven Johnson ahead of Sen. Caryn Tyson by less than 1 percentage point as of 6 p.m. Under a new Kansas law enacted during the last session, every county election office in the state must now perform a post-election audit where ballots cast in 10% of each county’s precincts will be recounted by hand.
During a press call on Wednesday, Bryan Caskey, the state’s director of elections, said the GOP primary for treasurer was the only one that met the threshold for the increased post-election audit. He said every county would also be performing the additional state-required audit of a statewide, state legislative and county race in addition to the constitutional amendment question regarding the right to have an abortion in Kansas
Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said Wednesday that his workers were in a bit of a scramble to get everything done in time. Although the voters have all done their part, he said the work was only beginning for the election office.
“We just got out of gates with the work we have to do,” Sherman said.
Johnson County, the most populated in Kansas, has 610 precincts. By state law the hand recount for the GOP treasurer primary will include 61 precincts. Seven precincts there will be recounted by hand in the other part of the post-election audit.
The GOP treasurer’s primary race marked the closest contest of the night. All of the mail-in and provisional ballots had yet to be counted, meaning the margin between Johnson and Tyson could narrow or widen, though the difference was not expected to move beyond the post-election audit threshold. Mail ballots are counted through Friday so long as they are postmarked on Election Day.
Tyson, R-Parker, was first elected to the Kansas House in 2010 and has been in the Kansas Senate since 2013.
Johnson, R-Assaria, was also first elected to the Kansas House in 2010. He is the former chair of the House tax committee and currently chairs the House Insurance and Pensions committee.
Whichever candidate emerges as the GOP primary’s winner will compete against Democrat Lynn Rogers for the seat in November’s general election. Rogers was appointed to the position by Gov. Laura Kelly last year to fill a vacancy left by U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner after his successful congressional run.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
