Atchison County Commissioners on Nov. 10 accepted the county clerk’s recommendation to count 12 of 16 provisional ballots from the Nov. 4 general election and unanimously adopted the official election results.

County Clerk Pat Henderson led the canvass and recommended rejecting four provisional ballots because they lacked valid signatures, were from voters who had moved into Kansas from another state and not registered, or had registration updates that occurred after the Oct. 15 deadline. "We were anticipating about 1,200, and we had 1,514," Henderson said of turnout, noting the county saw higher participation than expected.

Commissioners reviewed individual provisional cases as presented by the clerk. Examples the clerk recited included voters who had moved within Atchison County (eligible as provisional votes once verified), voters who reported they had applied for but not received an advance ballot (recommended to count), and two mail ballots with missing or illegible signatures for which the clerk said staff could not reach the voter to correct the defect prior to the canvas. The clerk recommended the commission "not count" those with unfixable signature defects.

After discussion, Commissioner Campbell moved to approve the clerk’s recommendations; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote, with Commissioners recorded as voting "aye" (vote recorded 3 to 0). Later in the meeting the chair moved to adopt the official results and the commission again voted 3-0 to certify the outcomes. The chair stated that "all races remain the same from the unofficial result winners." The certified results will be posted on the county website and social media.

The commission’s action was procedural certification of results and did not alter any announced winners. Detailed reasons the clerk cited for rejecting particular provisional ballots included: a missing signature or no contact information on a mail-in, registration in another state prior to voting in Kansas, and registrations updated after the statutory registration deadline. The clerk and commissioners repeatedly referenced the applicable statutory procedures for correcting signature or registration defects during the canvass but did not quote a specific statute number on the record.

The commission recessed into workshop after completing the canvass; the clerk provided the official results upon reconvening and the commission signed the certification.