TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top aide to Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer said Friday that Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s promise to remove himself from further vote counting in their hotly contested Republican primary race is not enough and Kobach must stop advising local officials who’ll do the actual work.

Colyer spokesman Kendall Marr reiterated the governor’s demand that Kobach stop providing guidance to county election officials on how to handle perhaps several thousand as-yet uncounted ballots in the governor’s race.

Kobach led by 121 votes out of more than 311,000 cast after discrepancies were found Thursday between two counties’ totals and those reported on the secretary of state’s website. More changes and a new statewide tally in the race were expected Friday, with late-arriving mail-in ballots counted. Counties have until Aug. 20 to finish.

The secretary of state is a conservative lightning rod who alienates even some fellow Republicans, but he is perhaps President Donald Trump’s closest political ally in Kansas and had Trump’s tweeted endorsement. Colyer, backed by the National Rifle Association and a strong abortion opponent, is trying to avoid becoming the first Kansas governor to lose a primary since 1956.

Kobach noted on two cable television appearances Thursday night that counties handle the actual counting of ballots so that removing himself from further counting would be “pointless” and purely “symbolic.” But in his second appearance on CNN, he said he would step aside from further counting — though it was not clear how far he would go.

“I said, ‘Of course, if he wants me to, I would,” and he has said, ‘OK, I do want you to,’ so I will,” Kobach said.

Marr said Friday that Colyer understands that Kobach has a limited role in the actual counting of votes and his more significant role is in advising county officials. In a letter Thursday to Kobach, the governor accused the secretary of state of giving county officials guidance “inconsistent with Kansas law” and said Kobach should allow the state’s attorney general to advise them.

“We want him to recuse himself from his actual role in the process,” Marr said. “We were very, very specific.”

Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert did not immediately respond to a cellphone message seeking comment Friday morning, but she had said Thursday that Kobach would formally respond to Colyer’s letter Friday.

The counting is not complete because state law says mail-in ballots that are postmarked Tuesday can be accepted by the counties as late as Friday. County officials also must review perhaps several thousand provisional ballots, given to voters at the polls when their eligibility is in question.

Colyer released his letter to Kobach hours after Colyer’s campaign announced that it had set up a “voting integrity” hotline. Marr said it received “countless” reports, adding that he personally knows of several dozen.

In the letter, Colyer questioned whether Kobach was advising counties not to count some mail-in ballots, including those with missing or unreadable postmarks, even if they arrived by Friday. He also said he heard reports that some unaffiliated voters — who by law can declare a party affiliation at the polls to vote in a primary — were given provisional ballots instead of the regular ballots they were due.

In the statement announcing the hotline, Marr also said that some voters at the polls “were turned away outright for unknown reasons,” without providing more details.

In his letter, Colyer suggested Kobach’s guidance to county officials “may serve to suppress the vote.” He added that circumstances “obviously increase the likelihood that one of the candidates may seek a recount, or even the possibility of litigation.”

Kobach told reporters Wednesday that he knew of no significant reports of irregularities in Tuesday’s primaries, outside of long delays in reporting results from the state’s most populous county. There, Johnson County in the Kansas City area, results were delayed by problems with uploading data from new voting machines.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday that he will remove himself from the further counting of votes while his Republican primary battle with Gov. Jeff Colyer hangs in the balance, describing it as a “symbolic” step in response to a public demand from Colyer.

The governor publicly accused Kobach, the state’s top elections official, of giving county election officials information about the handling of yet-uncounted ballots “inconsistent with Kansas law.” He demanded in a letter to Kobach that Kobach stop advising county officials and have the state’s attorney general do it instead.

The close contest between the embattled governor and a conservative lightning rod took another acrimonious turn as Kobach’s already tiny lead shrunk from 191 votes to just 121 out of 311,000 ballots cast, after two counties reported discrepancies between their tallies and what Kobach’s office reported on its website.

Kobach needled Colyer in a Fox Business network appearance Thursday evening, saying it would be “pointless” to remove himself from the process because the state’s 105 counties handle the counting of ballots but he might do so just to make Colyer “feel good.”

But a little more than an hour later, questioned on CNN, Kobach said: “I said, ‘Of course, if he wants me to, I would,” and he has said, ‘OK, I do want you to,’ so I will.”

The counting is not complete because state law says mail-in ballots that are postmarked Tuesday can be accepted by the counties as late as Friday. And county officials still must review perhaps several thousand provisional ballots, given to voters at the polls when their eligibility is in question. They have until Aug. 20 to finish.

Colyer released his letter to Kobach after his campaign announced that it had set up a “voting integrity” hotline and urged people to report their complaints about the election. Colyer spokesman Kendall Marr said it received “countless” reports, adding that he personally knows of several dozen.

“It has come to my attention that your office is giving advice to county election officials — as recently as a conference call yesterday — and you are making public statements on national television which are inconsistent with Kansas law and may serve to suppress the vote in the ongoing primary election process,” Colyer said in his letter to Kobach.

In the letter, Colyer questioned whether Kobach was advising counties not to count some mail-in ballots, including those with missing or unreadable postmarks, even if they arrived by Friday. He also said he heard reports that some unaffiliated voters — who by law can declare an affiliation at the polls and vote in a primary — were given provisional ballots instead of the regular ballots they were due.

And Colyer wrote that circumstances “obviously increase the likelihood that one of the candidates may seek a recount, or even the possibility of litigation.”

Kobach, a vocal advocate of tough immigration and voter identification policies, advised Trump’s campaign in 2016 and the White House afterward and served as vice chairman of Trump’s now disbanded commission on election fraud. Trump tweeted his endorsement of Kobach on Monday, less than 24 hours before polls opened.

But Kobach’s no-apology, hard-right conservatism has alienated even some fellow Republicans, and Colyer has sought to project a more mild-mannered, steadier style.

As secretary of state, Kobach sets rules, gives county officials guidance and appoints election commissioners in the state’s four most populous counties. Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said he would respond to Colyer’s letter Friday.

Kobach told reporters Wednesday that he knew of no significant reports of irregularities in Tuesday’s primaries, outside of long delays in reporting results from the state’s most populous county. There, Johnson County in the Kansas City area, results were delayed by problems with uploading data from new voting machines.

But the totals for the GOP primary for the governor’s race in at least two counties posted on the secretary of state’s website did not match the totals from the counties themselves.

First, in Thomas County in the state’s northwest corner, the final, unofficial results posted on the secretary of state’s website show Kobach winning there with 466 votes to Colyer’s 422. But the tally posted by the Thomas County clerk’s office shows Colyer with 522 votes, or 100 votes more, a number the clerk confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday.

Bryan Caskey, state elections director, said county officials pointed out the discrepancy Thursday following a routine request for a postelection check of the numbers to counties by the secretary of state’s office.

“This is a routine part of the process,” Caskey said. “This is why we emphasize that election-night results are unofficial.”

Thomas County Clerk Shelly Harms said it’s possible that her handwriting on the tally sheet faxed to the secretary of state’s office was bad enough in the rush of primary-night business that the number for Colyer wasn’t clear. But a copy she provided to the AP showed that the number for Colyer is unambiguously “522.”

“They just misread it,” she told the AP.

On CNN, Kobach suggested the mistake was among the kind of “keystroke errors” that happen routinely and are caught later.

And in Haskell County, elections officials said they had not initially reported returns from one precinct. Once those votes were added, the net result was a gain of 30 votes.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Immigration hardliner Kris Kobach led Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer by less than 200 votes Wednesday following the state’s Republican primary election for governor, and it will be days before the race is settled.

But Kobach isn’t waiting: He said Republicans can’t afford to delay campaigning for the general election and he plans to will start immediately. Kobach acknowledged during a news conference that his lead may disappear when all votes are counted, but he said it’s imperative that the party not wait — because Democrats won’t.

The election is a test of whether President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Kobach could help the secretary of state despite an aggressive, no-apologies brand of conservative that has alienated even some fellow Republicans.

Kobach is perhaps Trump’s closest ally in Kansas: He advised the White House and served as vice chairman of a now-disbanded election fraud commission.

Colyer raised more campaign contributions, was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and has the backing of Kansas political legend, former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole. Colyer became governor in January, succeeding Sam Brownback after the former governor was appointed by Trump to an ambassador’s post.

The two candidates sent their supporters home early Wednesday from election night watch parties when results were slow from the state’s most populous county, Johnson County in the Kansas City area, which has 23 percent of the state’s registered voters. The county suffered problems with new voting machines.

Kobach urged supporters who’d gathered in the ballroom of a Topeka hotel to get some sleep early Wednesday. He ended his remarks on a conciliatory note that contrasted sharply with the final weeks of his campaign.

“This has been a very tough scrimmage,” Kobach said. “I want everybody to join together, regardless, stand for the principles we all believe in.”

Colyer released a statement saying he was not conceding, citing the closeness of the vote and the “extraordinary problems” in Johnson County, adding: “We are committed to ensuring that every legal vote is counted accurately throughout the canvassing process.”

Kansas has no automatic recounts in elections. In a primary, a candidate must ask and pay for a recount regardless of how close the race finishes.

State law also allows mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday to be counted if they arrive within three days of the election. County officials also still must review so-called provisional ballots, which are issued to voters when there is a question about whether they are eligible to vote at a particular polling place.

The secretary of state’s office estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 provisional ballots were cast in the election. County officials don’t begin certifying their results until Monday.

Colyer was trying to avoid becoming the first Kansas governor to lose a primary since 1956, and the first nationally since Hawaii’s Neil Abercrombie lost a Democratic primary in 2014.

Kobach built a national reputation as a conservative agitator for both tough immigration policies and strict voter identification laws. He was an early supporter of Trump in the 2016 presidential race, advised him during the campaign and in the White House.

During his campaign for governor, Kobach repeatedly said: “I don’t back down. I double down.” He even rode in parades in a Jeep with a replica machine gun mounted on back, and stepped up its use after the vehicle’s appearance in a July parade in the Kansas City area spurred criticism.

Some Republicans worry that Kobach’s aggressive personality would make it harder to appeal to a broader electorate and give Democrats an opening in a red state that has been willing to elect Democrats as governor in the past.

After voting for Colyer in Topeka, Carolyn Wojakowksi, a 71-year-old retired teacher, said she supported Colyer because she believes he has the better chance of winning the Nov. 6 general election. As for Kobach, she said: “He’s alienated himself from part of the people in Kansas by his strong stance.”

In the Democratic race, voters nominated veteran state Sen. Laura Kelly, of Topeka, to settle their first contested primary for governor since 1998.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has joined 18 other states in adopting a law requiring motorists to use caution around garbage trucks by making driver carelessness a fineable offense.

A ticket for what is now known as “unlawful passing of a waste collection vehicle” will cost an offender $45 starting July 1, 2019. Until then, police will hand out warnings.

The Kansas law took effect this month. Motorists are required to treat stopped garbage trucks with “due caution,” meaning they must slow down when nearing the truck and give it space when passing.

Exactly what constitutes “due caution” will depend on the given circumstances and the judgment of the enforcing police officer. The same standards are in place for emergency vehicles.

“Drivers have a habit of not always paying attention, of getting distracted and running into the back of the vehicles,” said Brandon Wright, communications director for the National Waste and Recycling Association.

Garbage collection is the fifth most hazardous civilian job in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and motorists are a big reason.

Besides inattentive driving, drivers often try to zip around trucks too quickly or squeeze by them when there’s not enough room, all of which can end badly for the workers, Wright said.

“You just hate to see someone get hit beside one of those big old trucks,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mike Petersen, a Wichita Republican. “There’s not much between them and the traffic. It’s not pretty.”

His committee heard testimony from nearly a dozen waste industry employees and experts supporting the law, which convinced members of the need, he said.

Kansas traffic laws generally require drivers to adjust their speed and tactics for road conditions and weather to remain safe. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1970 that a driver must exercise “ordinary care and caution” to avoid accidents.

In the case of the new law, drivers are likely to get pulled over if they “buzz right by at their normal speed” when a garbage truck is present, said state House Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Proehl, a Parsons Republican.