Kansas City will have more chances to vote early in Frank White recall election
Now that Jackson County courts have set a date for the election to potentially recall county executive Frank White Jr., the Kansas City Election Board has begun preparing residents for a streamlined voting process.
Fewer polling places than usual will be open in Kansas City during the September 30 recall election, the board announced Monday, due to the shortened timeline leading up to the election.
To compensate, the board will offer extra opportunities for early voting, also known as no-excuse absentee voting.
Though the special election date was not finalized until last week, the recall ballot was written and finalized on June 8, according to the document’s digital properties.
The ballot language for the single-issue special election will be short and sweet, with the sample ballot released by KCEB reading “Shall Frank White, Jr. be recalled from the office of County Executive in Jackson County, Missouri?”
The board was unavailable Monday afternoon to share which polling locations will be closed, or whether the list of cuts has been finalized.
How can I vote?
The Kansas City Election Board’s solution to a higher-pressure timeline is to limit the number of polling places open on Election Day.
During the Sept. 30 recall, Kansas City residents will be eligible to vote by ballot machine at any open polling place, including KCEB headquarters, the board announced Monday. Voters who wish to use a paper ballot must do so at their assigned polling location, which they will receive notice of by mail about a week before the election.
Absentee voting is typically only available to voters who have special circumstances, such as incarceration, illness or caretaking responsibilities, religious exemptions or lack of a permanent address. Standard absentee voting in the Sept. 30 recall will begin on August 19, either by mail or in person at KCEB headquarters, 4407 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Early voting will begin August 16 at KCEB headquarters. KCEB said it will announce additional locations for early voting, also called special absentee voting, in the coming votes.
If the KCEB does not receive a ballot from registered absentee voters by 5 p.m. on September 17, a ballot will be mailed to the voter’s home address. Voters who have previously self-described to KCEB as permanently disabled will automatically be mailed an absentee ballot.
The Jackson County Election board has not announced similar plans for voters outside of Kansas City as of Monday.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on September 30 for regular voting. Missouri law requires voters to show a valid photo ID issued by either the state or federal government or the United States military.
Planning a recall
Jackson County voters submitted more than 43,000 valid signatures to the Jackson County and Kansas City election boards on June 27 in favor of recalling White, a Democrat who has served as County Executive since 2016.
The signatures were collected over the course of two years by residents living mostly in eastern Jackson County, with substantial help from a “dark money” political action group.
Multiple parties within and beyond county government immediately disagreed on when a recall election should take place.As lawsuits over the fate of the recall process moved through the county court system this summer, the Kansas City and Jackson County Election Boards had hoped that a Jackson County judge would set a Nov. 4 election.
The Jackson County Legislature set an August 26 election date on July 18 based on directives about recall election timing in the Jackson County charter, shortly after the election boards filed one of two conflicting lawsuits. After a condensed hearing on August 1, a judge ruled last week that a September 30 election gave the election boards enough time to prepare.
Judge Marty W. Seaton agreed with the election boards that an election on August 26th would not leave enough time to reach overseas voters and members of the military. However, he opined that the July 18 vote gave the election boards reasonable notice that a special election would eventually take place, allowing them to have started preparing 10 weeks before September 30.
The Jackson County Election Board previously said that within the 10-week period that it generally takes the two election boards to prepare for an election, ballot language is finalized by week eight.
During the Aug. 1 hearing about special election timing, Tammy Brown, Republican Director of the Jackson County Board of Elections, said that running a special election before November 4 could limit the number of available polling places, voting machines and election administrators. Poll workers and judges serve on a volunteer basis, she said, while polling places are often hosted in schools and may not be widely available for special use in late September.
Meanwhile, voting machines must be left alone for programming and testing for several weeks before and after an election, she said. This means that ballot machines used during a September election may not be available by the long-scheduled November 4 general election.
