A Jackson County judge on Monday declared Franklin D. Tatro ineligible to be a candidate for Lee’s Summit City Council because of an earlier felony conviction.
According to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Judge James Kanatzar held a hearing Monday afternoon to consider a civil action initiated by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday after Lee’s Summit police alerted it of Tatro’s conviction.
The news release states Kanatzar ruled Tatro is not qualified to be a candidate for election of Lee’s Summit City Council District #1 and would be prohibited from being sworn in, if elected.
The judge also ordered that the Jackson County Election Board shall not release any information which would show the number of votes cast Tuesday for Tatro. The news release states the election board shall post a notice at each poll where the Council District #1 race appears on the ballot. It will state Tatro is not a qualified candidate and votes cast for him will not be reported.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker stated in the news release that her office acted as quickly as possible to protect the integrity of Tuesday’s election.
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