The top election official in Kansas has asked a Sedgwick County judge to block the release of voting machine tapes sought by a Wichita mathematician who is researching statistical anomalies favoring Republicans in counts coming from large precincts in the November 2014 general election.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach argued that the records sought by Wichita State University mathematician Beth Clarkson are not subject to the Kansas open records act, and that their disclosure is prohibited by Kansas statute. His response, which was faxed Friday to the Sedgwick County District Court, was made public Monday.

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“I don’t see anything in there about why I shouldn’t be allowed access other than there is no official channel for private citizens to get access to those records. Therefore, no access allowed,” Clarkson said.

Clarkson, a certified quality engineer with a Ph.D. in statistics, has analyzed election returns in Kansas and elsewhere over several elections that indicate “a statistically significant” pattern where the percentage of Republican votes increase the larger the size of the precinct. The pattern could be voter fraud or a demographic trend that has not been picked up by extensive polling.

Here is some background about the strange statistical anomalies. I suppose I can understand them not giving out voter tapes to every Tom, Dick and Harry that asks for them, but considering these allegations, there ought to be a comprehensive and transparent examination into where these anomalies are coming from.

If you watched the documentary from my previous #shadyseason submission and saw how the Hursti Hack worked to invisibly "stuff" digital ballot boxes, the paper tapes may not be reliable. Electronic counting machines which count paper ballots at each precinct will print out a paper tape that reflects the "stuffed" voting totals. However, how the machines work where I live in Nevada, the individual electronic voting booth produces a paper tape for each vote, which is verified by the voter at the time the ballot is cast. If those style of tapes were counted and compared, perhaps some organized electoral fraud could be exposed? It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. It appears Sedgwick County uses the same "real-time" tapes, which is why they're focusing on that county in particular.

It bothers me a little that ksn.com seems to use the terms voter fraud and electoral fraud interchangeably, but I suppose it's not it's not clear where these anomalies are coming from, and it could even be benign perhaps. To my eyes, the fact that this anomaly appears over multiple precincts would strongly imply electoral rather than voter fraud, but who knows.