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| Martin Hawver |
Best
advice, if you’re a Republican voter, well…wait at least another week
to pull off that bumper sticker that shows you supported the losing
candidate in your party’s gubernatorial primary election.
Might
be this weekend, maybe next, but you might just leave the sticker
alone…unless you are trying to sell your car to a Democrat who will
probably try to bargain you down a few bucks figuring you don’t make
good choices.
Yes,
this election cycle has become more intriguing for political junkies as
Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach scrap in the
technical, complicated after-Election Day determination of just who is
the Republican nominee for the office of governor.
First,
the Election Day results were statistically close--191 votes out of the
310,429 cast for all seven Republican gubernatorial candidates
separated Colyer and Kobach. Kobach and Colyer won a total of 82 percent
of all those votes. By Saturday, that margin had narrowed to 110 votes,
Kobach still ahead…
But
figuring who won the most of those votes…well, that’s what this week is
about. Used to be simple, someone was an obvious winner. This year,
it’s not simple. Colyer and Kobach are now scrapping for every possible
vote, whether already counted or some of those mailed-in ballots and the
provisional ballots.
Provisional?
It just means that a voter’s name and address didn’t match the official
voter list that the election workers had in front of them on election
day. Maybe a voter moved, changed his/ her name (some recent brides, for
example, if they take their spouse’s last name, probably had to file
provisional ballots even if they wore a wedding ring to vote).
Provisional ballots are also some of those unaffiliated voters who
declared themselves Republicans at the voting place, so they could
participate in the GOP primary.
Those
provisional Republican ballots are the key to this race. All week and
even next week, county officials will be meeting to decide whether those
provisional ballots will be counted, and to weigh whether mailed-in
ballots were in fact mailed on Election Day, not the day after.
Oh,
there have been tense county canvass meetings over elections for county
commissioners or members of the Legislature, but not the top of the
state ballot.
The
fuss and time spent on the GOP gubernatorial race essentially makes
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, the only
major party gubernatorial candidate who will sure-enough be on the
November ballot.
And the more sticks and stones that Colyer and Kobach throw at each other—oh, and Kelly is keeping track of ‘em—the
more the biggest party in the state divides itself, and moderate
Republicans start looking for a candidate who hasn’t been mud wrestling.
And
let’s not forget the independent candidate—if he has enough valid
signatures on his petition to get a place on the general election
ballot. That’s Greg Orman, who has run statewide before, losing to U.S.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., four years ago. Already there are questions
about his petition signature-gathering, and whether some of those
signatures will be loudly, publicly rejected—a little stain on the
record of a guy who maintains that he represents a choice for voters who
don’t like either major political party.
Could
it get any better than this? For Kansas, probably, but for reporters
it’s a gold mine. A story, an allegation, a slight by one candidate
against another, scraps over whether this ballot or that ballot should
be counted. For the news media it’s like a house fire to cover every
day.
Oh, and reporters don’t have to worry about those bumper stickers. They shouldn’t be on reporters’ cars, anyway…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver's Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
