Kansas election results certified with few irregularities reported
Topeka ? The general election results were certified on Monday, and officials said there were a few reports of ballot irregularities and no allegations of illegal immigrants trying to vote.
The Kansas State Board of Canvassers signed off on the Nov. 2 election, which produced big gains for Republicans.
“We all lost fair and square,” Democratic Secretary of State Chris Biggs quipped after chairing a meeting of the board.
Biggs was defeated in the election by Republican Kris Kobach, who said that during the campaign voter fraud was a major problem in Kansas and that he planned to push for changes to ensure that illegal immigrants weren’t voting.
Kobach, an attorney who fights in court on behalf of state and city governments trying to establish their own immigration laws, has said he will push in Kansas for measures that will require voters to show a photo ID at the polls and require people registering to vote for the first time in a given county to present proof of their citizenship.
On Monday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brad Bryant said there were three cases in Johnson County of people who allegedly “double voted” during the Nov. 2 election. Those are being investigated by the district attorney’s office there, he said.
He said there were no allegations of illegal immigrants trying to vote.
There were 856,831 Kansans who voted, or half of the total number of registered voters.
That 50 percent total was pretty much in line with previous nonpresidential year elections. Voting in presidential election years is much higher, with 71 percent voting in 2008.
Republicans made significant gains in the 2010 election, capturing all the statewide and congressional seats on the ballot and improving their advantage in the Kansas Legislature.