TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to do a partial hand recount that gained’t change the end result of this month’s decisive vote in favor of abortion rights after abortion opponents charged virtually $120,000 to bank cards Monday to cowl the associated fee.

The Kansas secretary of state’s workplace stated the recount will happen in 9 of the state’s 105 counties that account for greater than half of the votes solid on the Aug. 2 abortion poll query, together with 4 of the state’s 5 most populous counties. Voters who need to maintain the abortion rights allowed underneath the Kansas structure prevailed in eight of the 9 counties.

The recount request got here Friday from Melissa Leavitt, an election conspiracy promoter from Colby in far western Kansas, however Mark Gietzen, a hard-right anti-abortion activist from Wichita who additionally promotes election conspiracies, pledged to assist pay for the recount. Gietzen used a bank card to pay for all however $1,500 of the prices, which Leavitt will cowl.

Voters on Aug. 2 overwhelmingly rejected a proposed modification to the Kansas Structure that will have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to additional limit abortion or ban it. The “no” aspect prevailed by 18 proportion factors statewide, or 165,000 votes. For the 9 counties doing the recount, the margin was 31 proportion factors.

There was no proof of great issues with the election. Baseless election conspiracies have circulated extensively within the U.S., notably amongst supporters of former President Donald Trump, who has repeated false claims that he misplaced the 2020 election by way of fraud.

Leavitt initially requested a recount in all 105 counties and proposed utilizing Gietzen’s “monetary belongings” for the required bond to cowl the $229,000 in prices. Gietzen advised The Related Press he was providing his dwelling as collateral. State Elections Director Bryan Caskey rejected that plan, saying the state would require money, a examine or bank card. He gave Leavitt till 5 p.m. Monday to search out another and advised her that she may slim her request to particular counties to decrease the prices.

Leavitt didn’t instantly reply to a phone message Monday night searching for remark, however she has an internet fundraising effort and had obtained greater than $41,000 in donations as of Monday night.

“We’re getting a whole lot of donations in,” Gietzen stated. “We’re fundraising rather a lot proper now.”

Kansas legislation says the individual searching for a recount pays for it until it modifications the end result, during which case counties do.

The Kansas secretary of state’s workplace says counties have 5 days, till Saturday, to complete their recount. State legislation contemplates beginning the clock when a recount request is made — making the deadline 5 p.m. Wednesday — however Whitney Tempel, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s workplace, stated it was attempting to be “accommodating” and can ask the Legislature to rewrite the legislation subsequent yr.

Some counties didn’t end compiling their closing outcomes till Monday, the final day they might achieve this, as a result of they had been reviewing provisional ballots solid by voters when ballot employees weren’t certain they had been eligible.

Douglas County in northeastern Kansas, which is dwelling to the principle College of Kansas campus, is without doubt one of the counties that may do a recount. Preliminary outcomes confirmed 81.5% of voters had rejected the proposed abortion modification. County Clerk Jamie Shew, an elected Democrat, stated he made plans to usher in 18 to 20 folks to do the recount and begin Tuesday.

Different counties whose votes will probably be recounted are Sedgwick, dwelling to Wichita; Johnson, within the Kansas Metropolis suburbs; Shawnee, dwelling to Topeka; and Crawford, Harvey, Jefferson, Lyon, and Thomas, the one county among the many 9 the place the proposed modification handed.

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