Kansas elections office reports 2024 turnout and audits: 1.33 million ballots cast and full post-election audits

Secretary of State Scott Schwab and a staff presenter summarized the results and administration of three statewide elections in 2024.

Brian Kaskey, staff in the Secretary of State’s office, told the Committee on Elections that Kansas reached more than 2 million registered voters last year. He said the March presidential preference primary—only the third in state history—cost roughly $4.7 million in appropriations and drew about 9% of registered voters; counties were reimbursed about $2,780,000, nearly $2 million less than the appropriation.

Kaskey said the statewide primary (held the first Tuesday in August) drew roughly 17% turnout and the general election saw about 1,334,000 people cast ballots, a state record and about 66% of registered voters. Of the general-election total, Kaskey said 695,000 people voted prior to Election Day.

On audits and recounts, Kaskey said each of the 105 counties completed a manual post-election audit—counting all ballots in selected precincts and comparing hand counts with machine tallies—and every county was “able to account for every single ballot in every single race.” He described one close primary (Kansas House District 51) where additional precincts were audited and one recount request (a magistrate judge race decided by 14 votes) that did not change the outcome. The closest margin in the general election was 60 votes in House District 28.

The office pledged to provide the committee with detailed statistics, including the county-by-county audit results and a summary of complaints related to election irregularities that remain under review.