Voters will decide Frank White’s fate as city, county scramble to meet election date
Jackson County voters will have an opportunity to decide whether to recall embattled County Executive Frank White. However, the date of the election, currently scheduled for August 26, remains in question.
The Jackson County Legislature earlier this week voted unanimously to hold the election after both the county and Kansas City election boards verified that enough petition signatures had been collected. White and legislators disagree on the motivation behind the recall effort. Legislative Chair DaRon McGee said voters are upset about the way the county has handled property tax assessments. Earlier this year, a judge ordered Jackson County to roll back assessment increases that were greater than 15 percent.
“Every two years, there has been a problem with property taxes in this county,” McGee told KCUR’s Up To Date, “and I think the county executive has been somewhat deaf to that outcry by residents.”
White, however, believes the recall ordinance is a vendetta against him that gained traction after he opposed the Chiefs and Royals stadium sales tax vote in 2024, which voters ended up rejecting. He said he was also concerned about the high cost of a special election and alleged “countless errors and legal deficiencies in the recall petition process.” After the petitions were certified last week, White accused Legislator Sean Smith of illegally using county staff and resources in the campaign.
White has until July 17 to veto the recall ordinance, which the legislature then could override. Both election boards will be scrambling to prepare for the election date. “The charter says ‘shall.’ We don’t have a choice,” McGee told KSHB-TV. “We ‘shall’ have an election within 60 days.”
Shawn Kieffer, the Republican director of elections for the Kansas City election board, said they usually need at least 70 days to prepare for an election. “We usually have a nice four-week period from certification to the time we have to have a ballot ready,” Kieffer said. “Now that’s cut within less than a week, and we’re struggling to come up with polling places.”
Sara Zorich, the Democratic director for the Jackson County Election Board, agreed. “Trying to squeeze all that in a week’s time is difficult, especially for 103 polls and 263,000 voters,” she said.
Meanwhile, four Jackson County residents on Wednesday filed a civil action asking a Jackson County judge to direct the election boards to “immediately schedule and begin efforts to hold an election” on August 26.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
