Slide continues: Injuries, losses mount on struggling Royals squad. See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Monday, August 1, 2016
Polls open Tuesday By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
All’s fair
Chad Backerman, of Caveman Cuisine, Carthage, Mo., preps chicken thighs mid-morning Saturday for judging in the Smokin’ Hot Barbecue in Riverside Park. Jerry Murphy, St. Joseph, Mo., spent much of the day keeping dust off his shiny black 1938 Chevrolet, one of many entries in the Neil Westervelt Memorial Car Show. Entertainment for Rotary Day in the Park included ballads from Joe Evans, Humboldt, some of which he wrote. REGISTER/BOB JOHNSON
Allen County Republicans will decide their respective nominees for sheriff, county commissioner and county attorney Tuesday. Since no Democrats filed for any of the three seats, Tuesday’s results almost certainly will carry through the November general election — unless an independent files for any of the seats by Monday, or a candidate partakes in a Herculean write-in campaign. Incumbent County Commissioner Tom Williams is facing challenger Ron Ballard for his seat to represent District 2, which covers the northern half of the county, including north Iola, Gas, and LaHarpe. Williams is a retired law enforcement officer having served previously as Allen County sheriff and for many years as a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent. Ballard recently resigned as a paramedic with the Iola Fire Department and runs D&R Lawn Care Service. Allen County Sheriff Bryan Murphy is being challenged by Jared Froggatte and Kelley Zellner. Froggatte is a detective with the Iola Police Department. Zellner, who lives in Humboldt, See POLLS | Page A4
Kansas voters have another choice: Paper or electronic By JIM MCLEAN KHI News Service
Crews examine the scene of a hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people near Lockhart, Texas, Saturday. AUSTIN
AMERICAN-STATESMAN/RODOLFO GONZALEZ/TNS
Probe focuses on pilot
LOCKHART, Texas (AP) — The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard was arrested in Missouri in 2000 for driving while intoxicated, and the Better Business Bureau warned consumers about doing business with a balloon touring company he used to operate in that state. Authorities haven’t pubSee CRASH | Page A4
Kansas doesn’t have a reputation for corruption like Chicago, where political bosses stuffed ballot boxes and sometimes raised the dead to alter the outcome of elections, or like Florida, home of the infamous hanging chad from Bush v. Gore. But concerns about tampering appear to on the rise, at least among Kansas Democrats, because of unusual voting patterns in the 2014 elections and persistent reports about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines. “Apparently, they (voting machines) are not that hard to hack,” said Beth Clarkson, a Wichita State University statistician who believes the machines may have been used to alter results in some large Kansas precincts in 2014. Clarkson, who is appealing a recent district court ruling denying her access to Sedgwick County voting records, bases her concerns on Kansas voting patterns that resemble those linked to possible fraud in several Republican presidential primary contests across the country in 2012.
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 192
Carolyn Megree of Spring Hill and Rene Pfaltzgraff of Paola try out an electronic voting machine at a training for poll workers in Miami County. KHI NEWS SERVICE/JIM MCLEAN Two California researchers uncovered the patterns in the presidential primary states. When Clarkson saw their report, she downloaded their data and re-tested their methods. “I took a look at the data and I took a look at their analysis and I got the same
results they did,” she said. Convinced their methods were sound, Clarkson applied them to the 2014 U.S. Senate race in Kansas won by Pat Roberts over challenger Greg Orman. The results confirmed the same unusual voting patterns — late surges of partisan votes in large pre-
“The day will happen whether or not you get up.” — John Ciardi, English Dramatist 75 Cents
cincts that could have been generated by rigging electronic voting machines. “Statistics never tell you what the cause is,” Clarkson said, only that there is a relationship between the numbers and certain explanaSee VOTING | Page A4
Hi: 92 Lo: 76 Iola, KS