TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two groups of local Democratic activists are meeting next week to fill the Kansas Senate seats previously held by Gov.-elect Laura Kelly and Lt. Gov.-elect Lynn Rogers.
Precinct committee members of Kelly’s former Topeka-area district are scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Topeka public library.
In the Wichita district Rogers represented, precinct committee members are scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Service Employees International Union Local 503 headquarters.
Kelly and Rogers both resigned from the Senate earlier this month after their ticket won the governor’s race over Republicans Kris Kobach and Wink Hartman.
Kelly has served 14 years in the Senate and Rogers, two years.
The new senators will serve the remaining two years of the four-year terms until the 2020 elections.
A makeshift shrine to the victims of Saturday’s deadly shooting outside of Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Shutterstock.com
By RAMESH SANTANAM Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — David Feldstein knew seven of the 11 people killed in the synagogue. For Augie Siriano, they all were friends. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers was leading Shabbat services when the gunshots rang out.
Barely three weeks after the Tree of Life massacre — believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history — they and their fellow Pittsburghers are preparing to mark a holiday built around gratitude. But in the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, they aren’t shying away from celebrating Thanksgiving. They’re welcoming it.
“It’s really a perfect time that Thanksgiving is falling right now,” Myers says. The holiday, he says, is about family — and spending time with loved ones is needed at a time like this.
And in the concentric circles of grief and healing around him — Tree of Life, Squirrel Hill and the city of Pittsburgh itself — the sentiment is similar.
“(With) Thanksgiving coming so closely on the heels of the shooting, people feel the need to be around family more,” says Dan Iddings, owner of Classic Lines, a bookstore about a half-mile from the synagogue. He will celebrate Thanksgiving with about 20 family and friends, and he expects it to be “a very family- and community-centered Thanksgiving, more so than in the past few years.”
How do you summon thankfulness in a family, in a community, when the wounds are so fresh and the grief so hard to bear? When what you’ve lost is so profound, how do you sit down around a holiday spread and enjoy what you have? To talk to people in Squirrel Hill this week — those directly affiliated with Tree of Life and those who compose the community around it — is to begin to understand the different forms that gratitude can take.
Siriano, Tree of Life’s custodian since 1993, was in the synagogue restroom when he heard gunshots Oct. 27. He rushed out to see one of the worshippers, someone he had shared tea with 10 minutes earlier, lying dead. On Thursday, he will be with family. He says he has much to be thankful for, including a grandson born Saturday.
“There has to be a place in your heart for the sadness and the joy,” says Rabbi Chuck Diamond, Tree of Life’s former rabbi who led a “healing” service outside the synagogue a week after the shooting.
“We recognize and acknowledge what we have lost, but, at the same time, looking around the table, we recognize what we have,” Diamond says. “People should observe Thanksgiving and appreciate the comfort and joy of the family around them.”
Feldstein understands the difficulty in celebrating the holiday less than a month after tragedy visited the neighborhood where he has owned a bagel shop for the past 28 years. Seven of the slain worshippers were Bagel Factory regulars, as were two of the Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.
“You feel a bit guilty,” Feldstein says. “It’s a difficult feeling. But you still have to make your kids appreciate what they have so when they have children, you want them to feel that appreciation. I love my family. To me, that’s the best time.”
The shooting took place in Squirrel Hill, the center of Jewish life in the city as well as home to churches, ethnic eateries, grocery stores, delis, pizzerias, and an independent movie theater. The violence shook the neighborhood, and much of the city around it, to its foundations.
A makeshift memorial bearing the 11 victims’ names stood outside the synagogue until recently and drew thousands of visitors. Steel barricades now line the entrance to the synagogue, and the memorial sits inside, where two other congregations — New Light and Dor Hadash — also had gathered when the shooting occurred.
The crowds have thinned, but people still stop to pay respects. Bouquets of flowers and cards lean on hedges outside the synagogue. Someone left a pair of gold-painted Converse tennis shoes; written in English was the Hebrew and Arabic phrase, “Peace be unto you.”
Margaret Porter of Heath, Ohio, was in town to celebrate Thanksgiving with her son, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, they felt compelled to bring flowers to the synagogue. “I would say we’re more thankful this Thanksgiving,” Porter said.
What makes Pittsburgh’s Jewish community special is how different denominations interact with such ease, say Daniel and Baila Cohen, who recently took over ownership of of Pinskers Books and Judaica, as well as the adjoining cafe, in Squirrel Hill.
“Here, people know each other. They’ll be part of different synagogues,” Baila Cohen says. “We are comfortable in all of them.”
Adds her husband: “There’s a lot of crossover.”
Another reason that so many here are grateful on this holiday: the support the Jewish community received from the city, nation and throughout the world.
At Bagel Factory, people have shelled out hundreds of dollars in advance to pay for food for complete strangers. A store refused to charge for a Thanksgiving turkey when the owner learned the customer worked for Diamond. New Light, which lost three of its members in the shooting, has received thousands of letters from all over the world — all of them personal.
“People, not just Jews, were touched by this. The outreach from other religious communities has been overwhelming,” says New Light co-president Stephen Cohen. He has been welcome, he notes, at services at a black church, a mosque and a Hindu temple.
Every business in Squirrel Hill has some sign of support in its window, be it murals of love, kindness and hope, or placards reading, “Stronger than hate,” “Our hearts cry for Shalom,” or “Love our neighborhood. No place for hate.”
Crocheted or knitted Stars of David hang from bare branches, sign posts and doorways throughout the business district. A 6th grader from Arkansas scribbled, “God loves you. You are in our prayers” on the back of a leather heart, on which a Star of David made from popsicle sticks was pasted. A sign thanks people for participating in an act of Tikum Olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world.
“So many people have walked up to me and said, ‘What can I do for you? What do you need?'” New Light’s Stephen Cohen says.
His congregation, like Dor Hadash and Tree of Life, found new locations for their services. And in those new places, during these very jumbled days, they are finding new ways of giving thanks.
They are the same community, marking the same American holiday as they did last November, but they find themselves with a new landscape to navigate — a landscape of grief, hope and, to hear them many of them tell it, gratitude.
“The first thing you do is change the venue,” Stephen Cohen says. “Then, you come together. We spend a lot of time together and we have been spending a lot of time together. That’s how you get past things like this. Maybe.”
The USD 489 Hope Pantry kicked off the holiday season by spreading some holiday cheer to families in need throughout the district.
As family needs have increased during this school year, the need for boxes to distribute to families continues to grow. Seventy-two boxes were packaged with non-perishable food items and sent home to families.
The Hope Pantry will continue to provide assistance to families as long as resources allow.
Those wishing to contribute to help families in need, can donate non-perishable food items, hygiene products, and gently used clothing can be donated to the Hope Pantry at the district office.
Monetary donations will be used to purchase items for the holiday food and hygiene boxes.
In conjunction with NCK Tech’s Community Outreach initiative, which offers more short-term courses for community enrichment, a ServSafe food handler certification prep course will be offered on Saturday, Dec. 1.
The four-hour course will be held in Classroom D in the Business and Operations Center Building located on the NCK Tech Campus, 2205 Wheatland. Chef Philip Kuhn, instructor for the culinary program, will lead the course.
“The ServeSafe certifications are highly recognized in the restaurant industry and can help front and back of the house staff learn the proper and safe ways of handling food,” Kuhn said.
The deadline for registration is Nov. 28. ServeSafe Manager classes are being scheduled as well. For more information and registration, contact Logan Staab, Outreach Coordinator for NCK Tech at 785-623-6173.
President Donald TrumpBy ZEKE MILLER and JILL COLVIN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump frequently credits himself with accomplishing more for the military and veterans than any other president in recent memory. But he has yet to embark on what has long been a traditional presidential pilgrimage important to the military: a visit to troops deployed in a war zone.
As he departed Tuesday for Florida to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at his private club in Palm Beach, Trump said he’d soon correct the oversight.
“I’m going to a war zone,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about his support for the troops. He did not say when he would be making the trip or where he would be going. An official said a White House team recently returned from beginning to plan for a visit.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that visiting a war zone is a decision for the president, while adding that there have been times in the past when he has advised against visits to “certain locations” to avoid security risks to the president and the troops.
“There’s places that I’ve been very straightforward I don’t want him to go at certain times,” Mattis said. He declined to elaborate.
The omission is one of a long list of norm-breaking moves that underscore the president’s increasingly fraught relationship with the military, which has celebrated Trump’s investments in defense spending but cringed at what some see as efforts to politicize their service.
Just this week, Trump leveled criticism against the storied commander of the 2011 mission that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, retired Adm. William McRaven. “Wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn’t it have been nice,” Trump said.
The latest controversy followed a pattern of concerns raised by former senior military officers about Trump’s grasp of the military’s role, and it comes as White House aides and defense officials have raised alarm about what they view as the president’s disinterest in briefings about troop deployments overseas.
Shortly after taking office, Trump appeared to try to deflect responsibility for the death of a service member, William “Ryan” Owens, in a failed operation in Yemen, saying planning for the mission began under his predecessor and was backed by senior military commanders.
“They explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected,” he told “Fox & Friends” at the time. “And they lost Ryan.”
Trump won the White House on a platform of ending U.S. military commitments abroad, but he’s been bedeviled by many of the same challenges as his predecessors. More American troops are now deployed in conflict zones than when he took office.
Aides have suggested that Trump is wary of traveling to conflict zones where he doesn’t fully support the mission. Trump begrudgingly backed a surge of troops in Afghanistan last year and boosted U.S. deployments in Iraq, Syria and Africa to counter the Islamic State and other extremist groups.
Trump said last week in a “Fox News Sunday” interview that he was “very much opposed to the war in Iraq. I think it was a tremendous mistake, should have never happened.” Trump, in fact, offered lukewarm support for the invasion at the time but began offering public doubts about the mission after the conflict began in March 2003.
At home, some assert that Trump’s decision to send thousands of active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before the Nov. 6 midterm elections was a political stunt.
Trump also drew criticism for his decision not to visit Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day, following his trip to Europe. He said later he “should have” visited the cemetery but was too busy with official business. His public schedule that day listed no events.
In the “Fox News Sunday” interview, Trump was asked why he hadn’t visited the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the two years he’s served as commander in chief.
“Well, I think you will see that happen,” he said. “There are things that are being planned.”
He also touted his support for the men and women in uniform.
“I don’t think anybody’s been more with the military than I have, as a president,” Trump said. “In terms of funding, in terms of all of the things I’ve been able to get them, including the vets, I don’t think anybody’s done more than me.”
Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, four for education and one for a diagnosis of bone spurs — though he later told The New York Times he could not remember which foot was affected by the malady or how long it lasted.
Trump told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he doesn’t think visiting troops in a war zone is “overly necessary.”
“I’ve been very busy with everything that’s taking place here,” he added.
___ Associated Press National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture and Carl’s Sales and Service, Inc. of Thayer hosted 21 high school agriculture students from four southeast Kansas schools at a hands-on dealership experience. The Nov. 6 event was coordinated in an effort to introduce students to careers within the agricultural mechanics pathway and farm equipment dealerships.
Schools attending the event included: Altoona-Midway High School, Cherryvale Middle-High School, Independence High School and Yates Center High School. Students heard remarks from Cindy Stiles and Randy Studebaker of Carl’s Sales and Service, Inc. and toured the facilities. They also learned about post-secondary education opportunities at Pratt Community College in a presentation from Ralph Williams, Instructor of Agriculture Power.
Upon completion of the tour and presentation, attendees rotated through four hands-on experience stations where they were asked to “find, fix, drive and sell.” Under the supervision of dealership employees, students used the computer software to locate various parts in the storefront. They disassembled and rebuilt hydraulic cylinders in the maintenance shop. All the students in attendance drove a Case IH Maxxum 150 Tractor. Lastly, students sold a Case IH 35A Tractor in a customer simulation by the teachers in attendance.
Landon Ewing, a senior from Independence High School, said, “Many people don’t realize the opportunities there are in agricultural mechanics and this day helped us to understand just how many jobs there are in both agriculture and mechanics. It was an awesome experience!”
The event was developed in response to the Agriculture Workforce Needs Assessment Survey conducted in 2015 which indicated that approximately 40 percent of Kansas job openings in agriculture were in agricultural mechanics. “We are very pleased with the enthusiasm from these students,” said Trenton Smedley, a KDA student intern who coordinated the program. “These events provide visibility and awareness about the need for growth in the technical workforce in the state of Kansas.”
“My students enjoyed working firsthand with those who are employed in the agricultural mechanics field,” said Katelyn Meiwes, agriculture educator at Altoona-Midway High School, “Their eyes were opened to the diversity of careers and opportunities within this industry.”
The event was organized by KDA and Carl’s Sales and Service, Inc. KDA serves to create partnerships between industry and education that ensure a pipeline of qualified individuals to fill the needs of agricultural employers. For more information on this workforce development program and other workforce development efforts, please email Russell Plaschka at [email protected] or call 785-564-7466.
The Ellis County Democrat Party has spent the last two weeks in an attempt to sow doubt and confusion into the electorate of the 111th House District. They have lowered themselves to investigating their own Democratic County Clerk, complained about the accuracy of our voting machines, and pushed conspiracy theories as to the handling of ballots.
If the Democrats had concerns about the integrity of the election or the competency of the office completing the process, they should have selected a different candidate two years ago to represent their party. We have no evidence that Donna Maskus has done anything but handle the election process professionally and lawfully. The only problem the Democrats seem to have is in losing. We wonder if Rep. Phelps would have any doubt about these results if he were holding a 35 vote lead?
The Ellis County Republican Party believes in the integrity of the election, and its leaders have taken the necessary steps to give us confidence that all votes have been counted accurately. We now ask that Eber Phelps and the Democrats concede this election result and forgo any further actions that will waste taxpayer money and place further doubt into the minds of the voters.
The desperation of their political leaders is showing in these attempts to undermine our newly elected State Representative before she is sworn into office. While all election losses are tough to handle, we expect more integrity and class from Rep. Phelps. It’s time for this fiasco to end. The people of the 111th district have chosen Barb Wasinger to be their Representative.
Ellis County Republican Party Leadership
Dustin Roths Chair
Sandy Werth Vice Chair
The Fort Hays State University Science Café presents “The Exploration of Caves” Monday, November 26, 7 p.m. in “The Venue” at Thirsty’s, 2704 Vine Street, Hays.
Presenter Dr. Jonathan Sumrall, FHSU assistant professor of geosciences, will discuss why exploration is critical for both performing science in caves and accessing the information contained inside of caves.
The event is free and open to the public.
FHSU Science Café is sponsored by the FHSU Science and Mathematics Education Institute.
The TMP-Marian Junior High Natural Helpers helped the Kiwanis celebrate and thank area veterans at a lunch earlier this month at Smoky Hill Country Club.
The students helped carry food to the tables, ate and visited with the guests, presented a program, and gave thank you cards from the students of the entire school.
The junior high choir and instrumentalists from Monarch Music presented a program of patriotic and other songs with special meaning to all.
Thanksgiving Day
Sunny, with a high near 65. West southwest wind 7 to 12 mph becoming south 13 to 18 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
A slight chance of rain between 3am and 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. South wind 9 to 16 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Friday
Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 61. Windy, with a northwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 21 to 26 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 32. West northwest wind 6 to 10 mph.
Saturday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. West southwest wind 5 to 14 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.
Saturday Night
Rain likely before 2am, then rain and snow likely between 2am and 3am, then snow likely after 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Very windy. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Sunday
A 20 percent chance of snow before noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 36. Very windy.
Bob Lowen in the mid-1970s, at his desk in the office of Information Services at then Fort Hays Kansas State College. – Courtesy of the Reveille, FHSU’s yearbook.
Anyone who knew Bob Lowen surely has a story or two to tell about a special moment with him, whether at work or at play.
As we all gather with family and friends during this Thanksgiving season, I would like to give thanks for having the privilege of knowing Lowen.
After graduating from Emporia State, Lowen, who grew up in south-central Kansas, came to Fort Hays State University in the early 1960s to work as sports information director and an instructor of journalism. He later served as the director of Information Services, which later was changed to University Relations. An avid golfer himself, he also coached the Tiger golf team.
A humble man with the perfect voice for announcing, Lowen was just that – the Voice of the Tigers — as the public address announcer at FHSU basketball games for 25 years. He was easy to spot in a crowd, sporting a headful of silver hair into his 80s. His warm smile and twinkle in his eye made even a stranger feel welcome.
The Hays community was saddened last Friday when it learned that Lowen, 82, had died from complications following surgery at the Kansas Heart Hospital in Wichita.
Lowen retired from FHSU in 1998. Even in retirement, he was a faithful fan of the Black and Gold and still attended Tiger football and basketball games.
I will miss him. He was one of my first writing instructors at FHSU, my adviser, my mentor – and I admired him immensely. While considering writing a tribute to Lowen this week, I thought I probably couldn’t say it any better than I did 20-some years ago.
Following is a column from the mid-1990s about the Voice of the Tigers, written when I was working as sports editor of the Hays Daily News.
For those close to Lowen, may the memories of those days bring a smile to your face. For those never lucky enough to know him, here’s a glimpse of the man who meant so much to so many.
•••
Bob Lowen watches the Tiger football team at a game this season. – Photo by Bob Duffy.
Lowen says so long
March 1, 1995, The Hays Daily News
The voice of the Tigers was speechless for just a moment Tuesday night.
Bob Lowen, the longtime public address announcer for Fort Hays State University men’s basketball games, was honored for 25 years of work at the microphone.
FHSU President Edward Hammond and Athletic Director Tom Spicer marched Lowen to midcourt of Gross Memorial Coliseum just before the game between Fort Hays State and New Mexico Highlands.
They presented a plaque to Lowen, who is retiring for his P.A. duties after this season.
Lower, normally a model of poise, was caught off guard with the presentation but quickly regained his composure and took his customary seat at the scorer’s table.
“Welcome to Gross Memorial Coliseum and Tiger basketball,” came a familiar voice over the speakers.
After Lowen introduced the opponent’s starting lineup, Tiger fans began clapping even before Lowen rang out those oh-so-familiar words.
“And nowwwww, the Tigers,” Lowen said, his voice rising with every word.
One by one, FHSU’s starters were announced, the final one the loudest.
“At forward, a six-five senior from Annapolis, Maryland, Dennnnis Edwarrrrds.”
The fans might not have know it, but Lowen had just set the tone for the game.
• Some things you take for granted.
One of those was Bob Lowen at the mic for Tiger home basketball games.
Almost since GMC opened in 1973, Lowen became known as the Voice of the Tigers.
He started announcing at Sheridan Coliseum in 1970 and shared P.A. duties in GMC for a couple of years before taking over the job solo in ’75.
Fans probably didn’t really think about how much information he was feeding them.
Listen closely to Lowen, and you would realize he was telling you who came into the game when, and for whom; who fouled, and how many fouls that player had; who scored, and quite often, who dished out the assist.
“A lot of times you go on the road, and you can barely hear the name of the kid who scored,” Lowen said. “Fans want to know what’s going on. Listen to me when the opponent scores a basket; you will hear his name.”
What fans might remember best about Lowen is the way he announced – and pronounced – the local players’ names.
The more syllables, the better.
Bob Lowen enjoyed life as a fan of the FHSU Tiger basketball teams even in retirement. – Photo by Bob Duffy.
One of his favorite names over the years was Cesar Fantauzzi, who played at FHSU during the 1980-81 season.
You didn’t need to know how to spell it.
Anyone associated with Tiger basketball knew who “Seee-zarrr Fan-tooozeee” was.
“You want to get the fans into the game,” Lowen said. “It was really fun trying to do that.”
Lowen has seen all kinds of coaches, including a few he was glad to see leave GMC.
“Some coaches are always picking on the officials for making ‘bad’ calls,” he said. “Just once, I think officials should have the privilege to say, ‘Coach, you’re really doing a lousy job of coaching. Get out of that zone and go man-to-man, and you’ll probably win the game.’
“Wouldn’t that be great?”
Lowen has seen all kinds of fans, too – ones who threw things on the floor, others who have hollered so loudly you couldn’t hear Lowen over the loudspeaker.
“I lose my cool when I see people act like fools at a ball game,” Lowen said. “Once, in Sheridan, I saw a referee get knocked out when someone threw something that hit him in the head.
Absolutely, holler and scream and get into the game, but don’t throw things on the floor.”
Lowen, director of FHSU’s University Relations, sure did enjoy this part-time gig.
“The more (the fans) got into it,” he said, “the more I got into it.”
All the way to the end.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s game, Lowen said what he always says at the end of a game.
“Thank you for coming. Thank you for your enthusiasm. And please drive carefully.”
If the Tigers don’t play at home anymore this season – that won’t be determined until after this weekend’s conference tournaments – then Tuesday’s game will have been Lowen’s last behind the mic.
Lowen, who will turn 59 this year, wanted to get out of announcing while he was still in good health.
Lowen was a picture of health as he walked out of GMC Tuesday.
He stepped lightly as he walked beside his wife, Bev.
As Lowen went into the cold, wintry night, I couldn’t help but think, “Thank you for coming. Thank you for your enthusiasm. And please drive carefully.”
•••
I read – and re-read – that last paragraph, over and over. It made me smile at the irony of its meaning.
Thank you for coming to Hays, Bob Lowen. Thank you for your enthusiasm. May you rest in peace.
~ Diane Gasper-O’Brien, a feature writer for University Relations and Marketing at Fort Hays State University, is an FHSU graduate who got her start in writing in the offices of FHSU Sports Information and Information Services.
Editor’s Note: Diane Gasper-O’Brien also has been the best feature writer in the state of Kansas for nearly a generation. Hays Post thanks her for sharing these and other memories with our readers. — Ron Fields
It took two weeks, a recount and two canvasses, but Republican Barb Wasinger has officially been declared the winner in the race for the 111th Kansas House of Representative District.
Members of the election board took most of the day Tuesday recounting paper ballots and checking results from the electronic voting machines before County Clerk and Election Official Donna Maskus presented the canvass board with results that showed Wasinger winning over Democratic Incumbent Eber Phelps by 35 votes.
The initial canvass had Wasinger winning by 32 votes.
The canvass board voted 2-1 to certify the results of the election.
Wasinger said she was thrilled that the results were certified twice by the canvass board.
“I’m proud to be elected to serve the 111th District for the state of Kansas,” Wasinger said. “It is important that I continued my positive campaign and didn’t get into the negative attacks that the other side had and I don’t think that’s necessary in this level of politics.”
Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin voted not to certify the results, while Commissioner Marcy McClelland and Mike Morley voted in favor of certification. Harbin and Morley were appointed to the canvass board after Wasinger and fellow commissioner and Wasinger campaign co-chair Dean Haselhorst recused themselves.
Ellis County canvass board
Harbin said after the meeting his uncertainty came from issues dealing with electronics.
Hays Attorney, and Phelps campaign representative John Bird raised several issues throughout the process and said after the meeting that a lawsuit is still an option they could use. He said they will determine the next step when they get all of the information they have requested from the county clerk.
Phelps was not present at the canvass.
On Tuesday, Bird claimed the 69 voting machines used in this year’s election were not reliable and said the election should have been carried out completely on paper ballots.
Bird said he doesn’t put the blame on the election issues with Maskus; instead, he puts it on the county commission because it has not provided the proper equipment.
“You have not provided the tools to the county clerk necessary for her to conduct a fair election,” Bird said. “The iVotronic machines that you are using have been found by the Ohio State and Penn State study, it’s called the Everest Study, to be inherently insecure, entirely hackable and they are not allowed to be used in any state, that I am aware of, now as a new machine.”
Bird said the machines, which are 12 years old, are not certified in other states and that they can be hacked easily.
“The Everest Study shows, clearly, that these machines are just not reliable,” Bird said. “They are capable of being hacked so easily that they’ve had 11-year-old kids demonstrate how you can do it with your iPhone.”
Bird also claimed the machines were not calibrated correctly, but Maskus disputed that notion.
“That is part of the testing and accuracy of each machine before the election,” said Maskus. “With the time change before the election, we had to set that and you do the calibration at the same time.”
Bird also raised issue with the difference in outcomes compared to the number of people who voted on paper as compared to the machine.
He claimed that because Phelps received 55 percent of the paper ballot votes the final tallied should have also show Phelps winning by that margin.
According to the final results, 905 people who voted on paper ballot voted for Phelps, compared to 748 who voted for Wasinger — a 157-vote advantage for Phelps or 55 to 44 percent.
But the people who voted using paper ballots made up only 19 percent of the voters. Nearly 7,000 people voted using the electronic machines in advance or at the polls.
Wasinger received 3,535 votes from people using the electronic voting machines while Phelps received 3,336 votes on the machines. Giving Wasinger a 199 vote or 51 to 49 percent advantage in that category.
Results from other races also showed that Republicans had an advantage when it came to the number of people who voted using the electronic voting machines in Ellis County.
In the race for governor, Kris Kobach got 61 more paper ballot votes than Laura Kelly, but after the electronic ballots were tabulated, his advantage grew to 553. Kobach received 53.6 percent of the electronic votes.
Ellis County Clerk and Election official Donna Maskus
Republican Scott Schwab received 59 percent of the electronic ballots cast in Ellis County in his race for secretary of state against Democrat Brian McClendon.
In every contested race in Ellis County, the Republican’s advantage grew when the electronic ballots were cast.
Maskus said the iVotronic machines have been certified to be used in Kansas and Ellis County, and she said she talked with the secretary of state’s office several times about the election and the recount.
When asked by Jonathan Ehrlich, the attorney representing the Kansas House Republican Campaign Committee, if she was “totally confident” that the recount is totally accurate to the best of the ability that you have and the machines have and certified by the state of Kansas, she replied “Most definitely.”
Ehrlich said, “You should certify this recount as affirming the results that were already certified the other night, that this election is over and that the 111th District elected Barb Wasinger.”
Drake / Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s OfficeLAWRENCE (AP) — A Kansas man jailed for more than a year in a murder case now faces charges in another death.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 21-year-old Steven Drake III of Lawrence was charged this week with vehicular homicide in connection with a November 2016 accident that killed 24-year-old Taylor Lister.
Drake has been in jail since last year in the fatal September 2017 shooting of 26-year-old Bryce Holladay. The first-degree murder trial is scheduled to start Jan. 14. Drake has claimed he acted in self-defense.
The new charge is a misdemeanor that alleges Drake drove in a way that created “unreasonable risk of injury” when his pickup truck left the road, went into a ditch and struck a tree. Lister died at a hospital.
Thanksgiving Day
