Top election officials in Kansas and Sedgwick County have asked a court to block the release of voting machine tapes sought by a Wichita mathematician who is researching statistical anomalies in election counts.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach argued in a court filing made public Monday that the records sought by Wichita State University mathematician Beth Clarkson are not subject to the Kansas open records act, and that their disclosure are prohibited by Kansas statute.

Kobach also contended he is not the custodian of records kept by the Sedgwick County Elections Commissioner Tabitha Lehman from the November 2014 general election.

Lehman told a Sedgwick County District Court judge in a separate filing last week that production of the tapes would be “unnecessarily burdensome” because the material cannot be easily copied.