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KS SOS Candidates Clash over Election Official

Secretary of state candidate Jean Schodorf. (Photo by Stephen Koranda) The Democratic candidate for Kansas secretary of state says the Sedgwick County election commissioner should be fired. Former state Senator Jean Schodorf says Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman (LAY-man) has made a series of work errors, most recently involving a petition that would place marijuana decriminalization on the fall ballot. The office initially misreported the signature count and misplaced some of the signatures. Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who appointed Lehman to the job, says she has overall done good work and has fixed problems when they arose.


“She’s been doing a very good job and she actually took extra time to do this signature verification process. She’s looking at thousands of signatures, inspecting each one, verifying that each voter was registered. This is a really time-consuming process,” say Kobach.

Schodorf says the problems in the office reflect on Kobach’s administration. Secretary Kobach says Schodorf is grasping at straws to promote herself in the election.

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(VERSION TWO)

The Democratic candidate for Kansas secretary of state says the Sedgwick County election commissioner should be fired. That’s causing a clash between candidate Jean Schodorf and Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kansas Public Radio’s Stephen Koranda reports.


(SCRIPT)

Democrat Jean Schodorf says there has been a series of problems while Tabitha Lehman (LAY-man) has been Sedgwick County election commissioner. Schodorf says most recently, there were problems counting the signatures on a petition that would have placed marijuana decriminalization on the fall ballot. Lehman was appointed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and Schodorf says the problems reflect on Kobach’s administration.

“It’s very serious that a number of mistakes have been made and he’s not willing to admit that his appointee is not qualified to be the commissioner,” says Schodorf.

Kobach says Lehman has overall done a good job and has fixed problems when they arose.

“Ms. Schodorf is grasping at straws to try to find anything she can think of that will propel herself in the election,” says Kobach.

Kobach calls Schodorf hypocritical, because her campaign may have made a fundraising error earlier this year, but now she’s asking for someone else to be fired over mistakes. Schodorf says an ethics complaint about her fundraising was dismissed.

 

 

Stephen Koranda is KPR's Statehouse reporter.