Prairie Village man pays $5,800 for recount of ballot question that wasn’t close
A Prairie Village resident paid nearly $6,000 to require a hand recount of the votes received on the ballot question that asked if residents wanted to abandon Prairie Village’s form of government — the latest move in a contentious election season in the northeast Johnson County city.
On Saturday morning, resident John Cantrell successfully submitted his recount request and posted $5,800 in bonds to cover the costs, a Johnson County spokesperson told The Star via email.
The decision to request a recount came shortly after the county certified its final results — which showed that 64% of voters rejected the push to abandon the city’s form of government.
Election results show that 9,010 people cast their ballots for the question in Prairie Village, with 5,842 people voting no, and 3,168 people, or about 35%, voting yes in favor of abandoning the government.
When a race has wide margins, voters can request a recount and the manner it’s conducted at their own expense, according to Kansas law.
The Johnson County elections office has until Wednesday to complete the recount. If the results are different than those officials had already certified, then the bond payment would be returned to Cantrell. If the results are upheld, Cantrell would forfeit that money.
Cantrell could not be reached for comment prior to publication.
Years in the making
The ballot question stemmed from wider efforts in 2023, during which the city grappled with heated discussions about rezoning to accommodate for more affordable housing.
At that time, a group of residents, known as PV United, circulated three petitions to bring three questions to the local ballot — one to limit rezoning, one to abandon the city’s current form of government, and one to adopt a new form of government. The new form of government would’ve halved the size of the city’s current 12-member council — eliminating six positions.
After legal challenges that went all the way up to the Kansas Supreme Court, the question to abandon the current form of government was the only one allowed to go before voters.
Alongside pushing voters to vote yes to abandon the form of government, PV United backed six candidates in each of the races for City Council. Unlike last election cycle’s efforts where PVU-backed candidates won several seats on the dais, all of PVU’s candidates lost this year.
Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson told The Star in a statement that residents “delivered a sweeping landslide victory for stability, civility, truth and good government.”
“Such unusually decisive voting results will of course stand,” he said. “Our city is moving on by accepting them, healing past divisions, and uniting to fulfill this bright future illuminated by our fair election.”
The Board of Canvassers will meet at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the Johnson County Election Office, 2101 E. Kansas City Rd in Olathe to hear and certify the results of the recount.
This is an ongoing story and will be updated as The Star gets more information.
