Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will recuse himself from overseeing the undecided Republican gubernatorial primary race he's running in.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Kobach is reportedly edging out incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer by just 121 votes. Kobach's lead had been slightly higher before two counties reported Thursday that their vote counts had been improperly recorded by his office.
In a letter, Colyer said Kobach provided incorrect information to county election officers that could end up suppressing votes and requested he not answer any future questions from those officials and instead defer to the state attorney general.
Kobach said he'd comply with the request while appearing on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time." He noted that doing so was "purely symbolic."
"There's really no point in doing it, because the Secretary of State doesn't actually have any role in the counting of provisional ballots or in any recount. ... You're head of the state election process but all of the work is done at the county level," Kobach said.
Kansas state law doesn't require an automatic recount, but candidates, registered voters and election officials are allowed to request one after all of the provisional ballots are counted.
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
