Kansas Secretary of State

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to elections officials in more than 15 states, including in Missouri and Kansas. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The two packages were received about a half-hour apart at Memorial Hall, a building adjacent to the Capitol that houses both the secretary of state and attorney general offices. Authorities said they weren’t sure if the same person sent both packages.

Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who serves as the state’s chief elections officer, told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy there was cause to be “extremely concerned” about “a troubling pattern that persists in the U.S. Postal Service’s processing and handling of ballots.”

Kris Van Meteren claims he seized ownership of the No Labels political party on Monday. He lashed out against Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, accusing him of working on behalf ‘fever swampers’ aligned with his personal opponents when Schwab invalidated the two nominations Van Meteren made for the upcoming election.

Jeanna Repass has endorsements from top Democrats to lead the state party, but a former campaign manager claims Repass canceled her last paycheck.

Nine Kansas counties must hand recount votes for the defeated state constitutional amendment on abortion after advocates raised $120,000 to pay for the effort. The largely symbolic recount won't change the result of the election.

Anti-abortion activists failed to raise the money necessary for a statewide recount of the Aug. 2 abortion amendment, which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. But they did gather enough funds to conduct a ballot-by-ballot review in Johnson, Shawnee, Douglas and six other populous counties.

Missouri and Kansas voters are headed to the polls for some important elections today. Plus: The Johnson County Sheriff's Office says they've gotten hundreds of tips relating to election fraud, but after a records request from KCUR, they only produced one.

Few outside Sheriff Calvin Hayden's office appear to know what he and his department are investigating.

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who said his office is investigating fraud in the 2020 election without offering specifics or evidence, made requests to have law enforcement involved in upcoming elections, according to a memo written by the county's chief legal counsel.

As a Johnson County Commissioner in 2020, Mike Brown made a motion to accept election assistance from a nonprofit funded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Earlier this year, Brown used a Facebook post to falsely claim Secretary of State Scott Schwab accepted the grant money.

Kansas voters will decide on Aug. 2 whether to amend the state constitution with a provision that says it doesn’t promise access to abortion.