Hand recount affirms state’s abortion vote

Results from eight of nine Kansas counties that recounted ballots found fewer than 35 changed votes from the Aug. 2 election, when voters soundly rejected a proposed amendment that would have removed abortion rights from the state’s constitution.

The counties faced a 5 p.m. Saturday deadline to complete the hand recounts of ballots cast Aug. 2.

Posted results for the eight counties found a total of 13 fewer votes for those favoring tighter abortion restrictions and 19 fewer votes for those wanting to keep existing abortion rights. Election officials attributed the changes to human error, such as voters making unclear marks on ballots.

Initial statewide tallies showed the proposed amendment failed by 18 percentage points, or 165,000 votes.