LANSING, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of healthcare, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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The Kansas Secretary of State's office announced Wednesday that the races for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and House Districts 27, 40 and 117, each had margins separated by 1% or less. Those races now have to go through a process called a close-race audit.
The fast-paced energy of election night has become a waiting game for Kansas State Representative David Buehler.
"It's a first for me," Buehler said.
Buehler is one of the candidates going through this process himself. He is running for re-election for District 40 in Leavenworth County, one of the races going through the audit.
"There were so many close races across the state. I don't think anybody saw that coming," Buehler said.
Bryan Caskey, the election director for the Secretary of State's office, explained the process.
"Every county participates in audits. So to begin with...every county will audit the constitutional amendment. They will audit one federal race. They will audit one statewide race, and they will audit one legislative race. In addition to that, every county will audit an additional 10% of the precincts in the Governor race, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General race. And then in the counties that are affected with Kansas House Districts 27, 40, and 117, those counties will audit an additional 10% of precincts in just those three House races," Caskey said.
Caskey also said close-race audits started in Kansas in 2022.
"This is the most races we've had under the post-election audit at the close race level," Caskey said.
"I'm not really happy to be in this position, but it is what it is, and I'll trust the process," Buehler said.
Unofficial election results have Buehler winning by only dozens of votes, which he said shows the importance of every single vote.
"When I look back on this and think about voter fatigue, truly it would have been about 40 people that didn't go to the polls that could have changed the outcome of this race," Buehler said.
He said all he can do is trust the process — and what comes after it.
"There are going to be many, many changes that are beyond just people losing their individual races, and we'll and we'll know how that shakes out in early December," Buehler said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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