TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach stepped aside from his duties as the state’s top elections official Friday until his hotly contested Republican primary challenge to Gov. Jeff Colyer is resolved, but Colyer argued that Kobach still has a conflict of interest because Kobach is handing his responsibilities to his top deputy.

Kobach rejected Colyer’s accusations that the advice he has been giving local elections on handling ballots violates state law. And the secretary of state — who has boosted his career by extrapolating scattered cases of election irregularities into claims of a serious election fraud problem — chastised Colyer in a letter over statements that, Kobach said, could undermine public confidence in the state’s elections.

Colyer had demanded in his own letter Thursday that Kobach stop providing guidance to county officials as they counted late mail-in ballots from Tuesday’s election and prepared to count other ballots next week.

“Although I would discharge my duties ethically, impartially, and responsibly, I have carefully considered your request and have decided that it is in the best interest of the citizens of Kansas that I permit another to perform the duties of the secretary of state until the conclusion of the 2018 primary election process,” Kobach wrote.

Kobach’s duties will go to Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker. Colyer was pressing Kobach to have state Attorney General Derek Schmidt advise county election officials — something Kobach argued isn’t allowed by law.

Colyer spokesman Kendall Marr called Rucker “a good and decent man” but said assigning Kobach’s duties to someone Kobach can fire “at any time” does not address “the clear conflict of interest that exists.”

Schmidt already is anticipating the possibility of a lawsuit challenging the election results by Colyer or Kobach and sent a letter to county election officials, reminding them to preserve “any paper files, notes, or electronic data related in any way” to the election.

Updated totals with late mail-in ballots from all 105 counties counted left Kobach’s lead over Colyer at 110 votes out of more than 313,000 cast, less than the 191 votes recorded the morning after Tuesday’s election.