It was election night, Aug. 2, 2022—nearly two weeks ago. The nation held its breath as Kansas became the first state to test what the people would say about a public vote that, after the Dobbs decision, could ban access to abortion. Kansas Republicans were confident they would prevail. As county after county came in, it became apparent that Kansas voters disagreed. As of today, with some provisional ballots counted and finalized, the vote tally is the kind of blowout you would expect in a deep blue state: 543,855 voted against banning abortion in Kansas versus 378,466 voting in favor of the amendment. The decision to ban abortion was defeated by 165,389 votes. This is, by all measurable means, a landslide.
Kansas Republicans have offered a lot of reasons why the amendment didn’t succeed. At first, Sen. Molly Baumgardner and others offered the idea that the amendment failed because their own voters opposed it, concluding it did not go far enough in banning abortion and that instead of giving the right to the representatives, an amendment should have been proposed banning it entirely. Now some Kansas Republicans have an entirely new explanation: The entire election was only lost due to widespread fraud, and they are demanding a statewide recount.