What happens if Jackson County voters decide to recall Frank White next month?
Next month, Jackson County voters will decide whether or not to recall county executive Frank White Jr. It’s the first time such a decision has gone before county voters.
The Sept. 30 election day comes after voters collected signatures and submitted a petition to prompt a recall, and after weeks of legal debate over when the vote should take place.
But despite the lengthy build-up, if voters oust White, a temporary replacement could be named quickly.
The recall election has drawn concern from the Jackson County and Kansas City election boards who say that the availability of poll places, poll workers and voting machines might be limited. The latter has expanded early voting eligibility but warned of limited day-of polling places during the special election.
White told a Kansas City podcaster earlier this month that he planned to retire when his term ends at the end of 2026, if he is not recalled. Some groups have also called for White to resign, including The Urban Council, a coalition of civil rights organizations in the Kansas City area affiliated with the Urban Summit.
More than 43,000 Jackson County voters signed a petition to recall White between 2023 and June 2025, with help from Democracy in Action, a “dark money” political action group whose funding sources are not publicly disclosed.
These signatures exceeded the threshold of 42,900 signatures, representing 20% of the votes initially cast to elect White. On September 30, only a simple majority of votes would be needed to either remove White from office or keep him as county executive.
But what would that mean to remove him from office? What would happen if voters decide to recall White?
Temporary replacement
The county executive is an elected position in Jackson County, with a vote taking place every four years. A successful recall vote would put an appointed replacement in the seat through the end of 2026, when White’s current term is set to end.
Whether White is recalled or not, an election will be held next year to pick the next county executive. Assuming there are multiple candidates, the winner of the party primary elections in August would then face off in November 2026. In every instance since the current form of county government was put in place a half century ago, the winner of the Democratic primary has gone on to win the fall general election.
If White is recalled, the office of County Executive would be considered empty the moment the vote was certified, according to the Jackson County Charter.
Legislature Chair DaRon McGee would first appoint a temporary replacement to run the county until the county legislature either approved that appointee within 30 days or appointed someone else to hold office until Jan. 1, 2027, when whomever is elected in November 2026 to fill the job would take office.
When Mike Sanders resigned as county executive in early 2016, he appointed legislator Fred Arbanas as his placeholder until the full legislature appointed someone to hold office until the next election. County executives who leave office voluntary, choose their immediate successors, according to the charter. The legislature then voted to put White in the job for the remainder of that year.
He then went onto win at the polls and reserved out the remaining two years of Sanders’ third term before going on to win two more four-year terms on his own.
If legislators failed to pick a temporary replacement, the judge of the county’s 16th Judicial Circuit, currently Judge Kevin D. Harrell, would appoint a temporary county executive for the same time frame.
The temporary replacement would then face an election in 2026, when they could choose whether or not to run for the seat’s next four-year term.
Alternative scenarios
If White were to resign before the recall election, he would pick his short-term replacement. That person could oversee the role for up to 30 days until either the legislature or the 16th Circuit judge found a replacement.
In any scenario, White’s temporary replacement would have to be from his political party. In this case, only Democrats would be eligible.
If a current legislator is chosen as county executive, they would automatically forfeit their place in the county legislature, according to the charter.
In that case, the legislature would work with representatives of the same political party within the former legislator’s district. These representatives, in this case Democrats, would have 15 days to present 3 qualified candidates to the legislature for a vote to replace the legislator.
Otherwise, the county legislature would have 15 additional days to locate and appoint a replacement on their own.
Who is running?
Since the recall effort launched, at least one former county executive candidate has announced that they will run for the role in 2026.
Kansas City attorney Stacy Lake, who lost to White in the Democratic primary during the last election for County Executive in 2022, announced in July that she would run in 2026 whether or not White was recalled this year.
Lake is running on a seven-part platform that includes plans for a strict internal audit of the Jackson County municipal government, as well as a focus on supporting small businesses and public transit expansion.
Since 2019, the county executive has been paid an annual salary of $149,718.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 5:09 AM.
