Voters in Kansas on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the State Constitution. The decisive margin — 59 to 41 percent, with about 95 percent of the votes counted — came as a surprise in a deeply conservative state that President Donald J. Trump won by nearly 15 percentage points in 2020.
President Biden won just five counties in Kansas as a candidate in the last general election, all of which voted against the amendment on Tuesday. Those counties were joined in delivering the victory for abortion-rights advocates by more than a dozen counties that had voted for Mr. Trump. Together, the counties — overwhelmingly the urban and suburban areas surrounding Kansas City and Wichita — constitute more than two-thirds of Kansas’ population.
Counties that voted against the amendment to remove abortion rights
59 percent of voters in Leavenworth County rejected the amendment — the same share that voted for Trump in 2020.
Less than one-fifth of the state population lives in the 59 counties fully west of Wichita.
In Saline County, 64 percent of voters went for Trump in 2020 and 55 percent voted against the amendment.
In Sedgwick County, 55 percent of voters chose Trump in 2020, but 58 percent of voters rejected the amendment.
Percent of votes against amendment
Counties where Trump won in 2020
Pct. voting against amendment to remove abortion rights
59 percent of voters in Leavenworth County rejected the amendment — the same share that voted for Trump in 2020.
Counties Trump won in 2020
In Saline County, 64 percent of voters went for Trump in 2020 and 55 percent voted against the amendment.
In Sedgwick County, 55 percent of voters chose Trump in 2020, but 58 percent of voters rejected the amendment.
About 940,000 Kansans cast ballots in the referendum, an astounding volume for a primary election in a midterm year. The Times’s 940,000 estimate would mean a 49 percent turnout. For comparison, the November 2018 midterm election brought out 1.05 million voters in Kansas.
A majority of the “no” ballots — those that rejected removing abortion protections from the Constitution — came from the state’s most populous counties, which encompass large urban and suburban areas. The state has four abortion providers; two are in Wichita, and two are in Overland Park — both areas that voted against the amendment.
Wyandotte County, home to Kansas City, voted 65 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020, but 74 percent for abortion rights on Tuesday. Neighboring Johnson County, the state’s most populous, voted 53 percent for Mr. Biden but more than 68 percent for abortion rights.
And in some rural areas that overwhelmingly supported Mr. Trump, Kansans’ margins in favor of amending the Constitution to remove abortion protections were much less decisive than their presidential votes. In Hamilton County, which voted 81 percent for Mr. Trump in 2020, less than 56 percent chose the anti-abortion position on Tuesday. In Greeley County, which voted more than 85 percent for Mr. Trump, only about 60 percent chose the anti-abortion position. (Around 90 percent of the votes have been counted in each county.)
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
