Kansas voters on Tuesday, August 2, rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed state lawmakers to pass legislation that would have imposed tighter restrictions on abortions.
Kansas has been in the national spotlight this primary season as the first state to vote on an abortion measure since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
“The Supreme Court’s extreme decision to overturn Roe v. Wade put women’s health and lives at risk. Tonight, the American people had something to say about it,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released Tuesday evening by the White House. “Kansas voters turned out in record numbers to reject the efforts extremes to amend the state constitution to remove women’s right to choose and open the door to a statewide ban. This vote makes clear what we know: A majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions.”
The amendment failed statewide by a count of 531,212 “no” votes to 370,608 “yes” votes with 3,905 of 3,994 precincts reporting as of 1 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, according to unofficial results from the Office of the Secretary of State.
The “Value Both” amendment showed strong support in most counties, especially in the more sparsely populated western half of the Sunflower State. But Kansans living in the most populous counties of Johnson, Sedgwick, Douglas, Shawnee and Wyandotte voted overwhelmingly to defeat the measure.
Miami County voters also rejected the amendment by a count of 6,224 “no” votes to 5,661 “yes” votes, according to unofficial results from the Miami County Clerk’s office.
Miami County Commission
There will be at least one new member of the Miami County Commission and possibly two.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, challenger Jene Vickrey defeated incumbent Phil Dixon by 1,108 votes to 578 votes in the Republican primary for Miami County Commission District 1, according to unofficial results from the office of Miami County Clerk.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, challenger Keith Diediker appears to have narrowly edged out incumbent Danny Gallagher in the 885-to-865 contest, but the results could change after provisional ballots are reviewed and possibly added to the vote total after the August 12 vote.
In the County Commission District 4 race, incumbent Tyler Vaughan defeated challenger Dan Mattox by 853 votes to 602 with 100 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the county clerk’s office from miami
All Miami County Republican Commission winners will be unopposed in the November election.
State House District 5
Challenger Carrie Barth of Baldwin City defeated Rep. Mark Samsel of Wellsville in the House District 5 Republican primary 2,769 votes to 1,599 votes with 53 of 53 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office. ‘State. Barth will run unopposed in the November general election. Barth also topped Samsel in Miami County by 705 votes to 548, according to unofficial results from the Miami County Clerk’s office.
Republican and Democratic candidates in the other three House races representing Miami County ran unopposed in the primary.
State Treasurer
The Republican primary for state treasurer remained too close to call early Wednesday morning.
State Rep. Steven Johnson had a narrow lead over state Sen. Caryn Tyson of Parker with a count of 213,660 votes to 212,812 votes, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office. Tyson received help from Miami County, where he won by more than 3,300 votes.
Other races
Gov. Laura Kelly and state Attorney General Derek Schmidt easily won their gubernatorial primaries to set up the planned showdown in the fall. Kelly claimed 94 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary and Schmidt received 81 percent of the vote in the Republican primary for governor.
Kris Kobach emerged victorious in the Republican primary for state attorney general, and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran easily won the Republican primary with 81 percent of the vote, according to unofficial totals from the secretary of state’s office. state Moran will face Democratic primary winner Mark Holland in the general election.
Amanda Adkins won the Republican primary in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, setting up a rematch with U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids in November. Davids ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Electoral participation
Miami County recorded a 47.23 percent turnout, eclipsing the 31.18 percent turnout in the August 2020 primary, according to the Miami County Clerk’s Office.
The election results are not official until after the call on August 12.
