Prairie Village voter-prompted recount yields same totals as initial results

After five days of recounting ballots in Prairie Village by hand, the Johnson County Election Office totaled the same number of votes — with the same outcome — as the initial results it had certified last week for the ballot question asking whether residents wanted to abandon the city’s form of government.

They still don’t. And the margin was still 30%, election officials concluded.

“I appreciate the work of the bipartisan group of election workers who conducted this recount, along with the staff of the Election Office,” Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman said in a statement. “Administering secure and fair elections is our office’s top priority, and this recount process demonstrates our commitment to that principle.”

A Prairie Village resident named John Cantrell prompted the recount by paying nearly $6,000, the amount the office estimated it would cost to conduct it.

The recount mirrored the initial final tallies — 9,010 people cast their ballots for the question in Prairie Village, with 5,842 people voting no and 3,168 people voting yes in favor of abandoning the government.

The Board of Canvassers certified the results on Wednesday morning, finalizing the results and closing the request.

Recounts and requests

As part of his request, Cantrell paid $5,800 for county election workers to count the ballots again. But the county found that the effort cost $4,828.46, refunding Cantrell $971.84, a Johnson County spokesperson told The Star.

Alongside Cantrell’s request, Ward 3 candidate Amy Aldrich requested a recount for her race against Shelby Bartelt, Sherman said. Results show that Aldrich lost to Bartelt by 173 votes – with Aldrich garnering 616 votes and Bartelt 789.

However, Aldrich didn’t come up with the funds to cover a recount by the county’s deadline in order to move forward, he said.

In addition to the recount, Sherman said that Cantrell has “made a number of requests for other election items,” including the election cast vote record – which is a large, digital record of election results.

While some states allow cast vote records to be provided, Kansas does not, he said, adding that the county’s legal team is working on a response to Cantrell’s requests at this time.

Recounts uncommon

Kansas voters can request a recount for questions on the ballot, Sherman told The Star in an interview. Only candidates can request a recount for their specific race.

Requestors can ask for the recount to be conducted in the same manner as before — re-tabulating the results through scanners — or by hand. Cantrell requested the recount be conducted by hand for the entire City of Prairie Village.

When margins are closer for contested races, the state will pay for a recount in the same manner as conducted before, he said. The state will not pay for a recount if the requestor wants it conducted by hand.

“Logically, most folks would not request a recount unless it’s a really close race,” Sherman said.

Since this race had a 30% margin, Cantrell had to pay for the recount.

“A full recount isn’t common, it’s only the second one I’ve done,” Sherman said.

The first he oversaw as election commissioner happened in August 2022 after Kansas voters rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have allowed state lawmakers to further restrict or ban abortions.

Johnson County was one of nine counties that went through the recount at that time, he said. The recount confirmed that the amendment lost both locally and statewide.

Heated election season

The recount requests are the latest moves following a contentious election season and tense few years in the northeast Johnson County city.

The ballot question went before voters this year following wider efforts in 2023 as the city grappled with heated discussions about rezoning.

As these discussions happened, a group of residents, known as PV United, formed to oppose any rezoning and disagreed with how the city operated. At the time, the group 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.

Legal challenges to the petitions went all the way up to the Kansas Supreme Court — which determined that only the question to abandon the current form of government could go before voters.

PV United called for voters to vote yes to abandon the form of government and backed six candidates in each of the races for City Council — all of whom lost to candidates who aligned themselves with current councilmembers.