TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab announced on Wednesday afternoon, November 4, that six races from Tuesday's midterm elections will undergo mandatory “close-race” audits — hand counts of ballots in 10% of precincts in every county — because all six finished within 1% in the unofficial election-night count. The list is headed by the governor's race, where, as Awaaz Punjab reported in its November 3 deadlock coverage, Democrat Cindy Holscher and Republican Ty Masterson remain separated by a fraction of a percent with the Associated Press yet to call the contest.
Source: Johnson County Post
The six races to be audited are: Governor; Secretary of State; Attorney General; and Kansas House Districts 27, 40 and 117. The audits are triggered by state statute K.S.A. 25-3009, Schwab's office said. They are conducted by county election officials, who hand-count the selected ballots and compare the totals with the results produced by the voting tabulators — the machines that count the paper ballots — to verify that the totals match. The close-race audit is in addition to Kansas's routine post-election audit, in which one precinct in each county is audited, and under the Secretary of State's published guidance the audits must be completed before the county canvass certifies the county results.
Source: Kansas Secretary of State — media FAQ
The governor's race: a declaration, a refusal to concede, and a count still running
Holscher, the Democratic nominee from Overland Park, declared victory on Wednesday morning, saying she was “deeply honored” Kansans had selected her to succeed Governor Laura Kelly: “The people of Kansas made their voices heard, and I'm deeply honored by the trust Kansans placed in me to serve as your next governor. Whether I earned your vote or not, I will work for you,” she said. The Associated Press has not officially called the race. After updated vote counts on Wednesday, Holscher led Masterson by 6,449 votes — still within 1%, which is why the race qualifies for the audit; counts published at different points on Wednesday put the lead between roughly 5,500 and 6,450 votes, and mail ballots postmarked by Election Day remain countable if received by Friday, alongside provisional ballots still being reviewed.
Source: Johnson County Post
Masterson did not concede. In a statement Wednesday he said, in part: “The first count does not seem to be going our way, but the margin is narrow enough that Kansas law calls for another look, and we'll let that process finish. Every Kansan deserves to know the result is right.” Kelly congratulated “governor-elect” Holscher, noting it would be the first time in Kansas history that a Democrat succeeds a Democrat as governor. Whoever is finally certified will take over at Cedar Crest, the governor's residence, in January.
Source: Johnson County Post
Two Johnson County House races decided — so far — by 42 and 134 votes
House District 27 covers parts of southern Leawood and Overland Park in southeastern Johnson County. Republican Representative Sean Tarwater, first elected to the seat in 2016, trailed Democrat Sara Kiewiet by 41 votes after Tuesday's unofficial count; after Wednesday's update, Kiewiet's lead stood at 42 votes. Kiewiet told the Johnson County Post she was “cautiously optimistic” about holding the lead as mail-in and provisional ballots are counted this week, and she highlighted turnout: Johnson County turnout was 62%, and District 27 turnout was 69.5% — 13,685 of 19,710 registered voters. Tarwater had not responded to the Post's request for comment at publication.
Source: Johnson County Post
House District 117 is split roughly in half between Johnson and Douglas counties and covers parts of De Soto, Lenexa, Olathe and Shawnee. Democrat Brandon Holland leads Republican Representative Adam Turk by 134 votes — 6,601 to 6,467 — in the latest counts reported by the Secretary of State's office. District 40, the third House race on the audit list, was within the same 1% threshold on the unofficial count; Schwab's announcement did not single out its margin in the reporting. All three House audits will be run by the county election officials in the counties each district touches.
Source: Johnson County Post
Secretary of State and Attorney General: leads above 10,000, still inside 1%
In the Secretary of State race, Republican Pat Proctor led Democrat Jennifer Day by slightly more than 10,000 votes after Wednesday's update — a lead that sounds comfortable until it is set against more than a million votes cast, which keeps it inside the 1% audit band. Proctor told the Post: “It looks like we won,” and said he felt good about where the race stood. Day said the race remained “too close to call”: “We are going to remain patient, follow the process, and make sure every eligible ballot is accounted for. This is about the integrity of our elections and making sure every Kansan has a voice.” United Kansas candidate Scott Morgan took roughly 4% of the vote in that race.
Source: Johnson County Post
In the Attorney General contest — a race Awaaz Punjab has been tracking separately, with Democrat Chris Mann leading Republican incumbent Kris Kobach in the uncalled count — Mann's lead expanded slightly after Wednesday's update to nearly 12,200 votes, out of more than 1 million votes cast in that race. Like the other five, it will now be hand-checked in 10% of precincts county by county before certification.
Source: Johnson County Post
A close-race audit checks the machines: officials hand-count a 10% precinct sample and compare it with tabulator totals. It does not by itself change any result. Separately, Kansas law lets a candidate request a full recount when the final margin is within 0.5%, by 5 p.m. the day after the last county certifies; if the margin stays within 0.5%, the state covers the recount cost.
Background: why Kansas built this check into law
Kansas votes on paper ballots counted by tabulators, and K.S.A. 25-3009 builds verification into the calendar in two layers: a routine post-election audit after every covered election — at least one precinct in every one of the state's counties, counted by hand by bipartisan county teams, open to the public — and, in even-numbered election years, the additional close-race audit for any federal, statewide or state legislative race within 1% on election night. Counties must finish the audits before their canvass, which certifies the county results; canvassing and the counting of provisional ballots run in the days after the election, with counties certifying between six and thirteen days after election day under the Secretary of State's published timetable.
Source: Kansas Secretary of State — media FAQ
What happens next: county officials now draw the additional 10% of precincts for each of the six races and hand-count them ahead of the county canvass; mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can still arrive by Friday and provisional ballots are still being decided, so the governor's margin can still move before certification. If any race finishes within 0.5% after certification, the losing candidate has until 5 p.m. the next day to request a state-paid recount. For Kansas's Punjabi and wider diaspora communities — concentrated around Overland Park, Olathe and Wichita, and in the trucking and logistics work along I-35, I-70 and I-135 — the practical meaning is simple: the state's next governor, its top election official and its top law-enforcement official will all be confirmed only after paper ballots have been counted twice, once by machine and once by hand.