A chaotic election season got more so last week after a work session held by Platte County commissioners led to the possible ejection of several candidates from the August primary election. Four of those candidates withdrew from the election voluntarily, and on a split vote, commissioners allowed the remaining three to continue on the ballot. In response, the Board of Elections has re-opened filing for two offices this week.
It was a full house at the regular administrative session of the Platte County Commission Monday, May 4, with candidates and citizens alike in attendance to dispute the commission’s proposed actions to disqualify seven candidates from the August primary. Those candidates were Dale Brouk, Holly Cayer, Chris Kendall, Mary McKenna, Kevin Robinson, Gena Ross and Russell Wojtkiewicz.
Brouk, who was running for presiding commissioner, Cayer, running for county collector, Treasurer Kendall and Auditor Robinson all withdrew from the Republican primary before the 10 a.m. commission meeting Monday. McKenna, running as a Democrat for presiding commissioner, Ross, running as a Republican for presiding commissioner, and Wojtkiewicz, running as a Republican for county clerk, chose to remain in the race and potentially faced removal by the commission.
At the heart of the situation is an ordinance renewed by the Platte County Commission in 2025 and possibly incomplete information provided to candidates by the Platte County Board of Elections.
Re-adopted in June 2025, the order established procedures to disclose potential conflicts of interest and substantial interests, which in this case were to be filed with the county clerk’s office by April 21. This requires a separate filing from the standard personal financial disclosure filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The ordinance states that the clerk shall provide a copy of this ordinance to the Platte County Board of Elections to be made available to all candidates filing for elected office within the county. While candidates were apparently provided a filing packet by the BOE containing the notice indicating they needed to file with both MEC and the county, a cover sheet on the packet did not clarify the separate filing requirements and implied an electronic filing with the MEC fulfilled requirements.
At a work session held Thursday, April 30, commissioners discussed this ordinance and identified the seven candidates they said were in violation. By the end of that day, seven ordinances had been added to the commission’s Monday meeting agenda to remove the candidates.
While only one Democrat, McKenna, was named, the Platte County Democrats issued a response that day, stating the move added more hurdles for people who want to serve their community.
“This decision clears the way for the anti-democratic Platte County Commission to handpick county officials,” said Platte County Democratic Chair Peter Coyne. “Removing candidates, whether they are Democrats or Republicans is plain wrong. The people should be allowed to choose their elected officials.”
By Monday, word had spread of the potential removal and dozens attended the meeting. County Administrator Wes Minder read a statement by Ross, indicating she misunderstood the requirement, and intended to stay in the race. A Letter to the Editor from Ross appears on Page 2 of this issue. Robinson spoke for himself and Brouk, providing the commissioners with copies of their withdrawal forms.
“To the citizens of Platte County, my sincerest apology for missing the required filing deadline,” Robinson said, stating he had mistakenly used the deadline required for officeholders instead of candidates. He intends to complete his term as auditor, capping off more than 15 years in office.
Cayer also spoke, “Due to the nature of this election, the tactics that have been used, and the fact that your vote today will determine four offices without the vote of the people, I have decided to take my fate into my own hands,” Cayer said, providing copies of her withdrawal paperwork to the commissioners.
Kendall said after much prayer, he had decided to withdraw, and also provided copies of his paperwork.
McKenna and Wojtkiewicz said they would not be withdrawing from the race. McKenna said she followed the guidelines provided to her by the BOE.
“I don’t think the candidates, Democrat or Republican, should be punished for an error by the BOE,” McKenna said.
Wojtkiewicz welcomed the vote, stating he believed the Board of Elections was upholding current Missouri Ethics Commission requirements, providing several state statutes to back up his claims. He believes the county’s ordinance had not been updated to comply with the current law.
“I’m up here fighting to give the voters a chance because they’re going to be the ones who are going to lose on this,” he said. “There will be several races they won’t get to vote on. I would like to see them win on this and not have the elections decided by any political opportunities or back room deals.”
Citizen Kat Henry said the commission was obligated to act justly as so many candidates allegedly received misleading information when they filed.
“And when we see the other candidates may have received assistance in understanding those rules, while others did not, there seems to be a necessity to understand what the weight has been given to some candidates but not the others,” Henry said.
Elisa Spencer, who was present at the Thursday work session, also spoke, stating the ordinance the commission cited to remove candidates from the ballot has rarely been enforced, the last case locally was in 2016 and pertained to a candidate who had already withdrawn from the election. This cycle, with seven people in non-compliance, was an anomaly.
Additionally, when paperwork is filed online with the MEC, it is available to the county, or to anyone.
“It made me sick to see qualified people come up and withdraw because of the conversations that have been happening behind their back,” Spencer said. “And as a Platte County resident it concerns me. We have a Monday – a working day – and we have a room full of people here disputing this. I hope you take that into consideration.”
Several citizens spoke up, stating the commission needed to listen to voters.
District Commissioner Allyson Berberich said she was surprised candidates withdrew before the vote, and she had thought over the matter and consulted with the MEC, other officials, citizens and others. While she believed everyone, particularly candidates for office, needs to follow the letter of the law, there are extenuating circumstances in this instance. Specifically, that there were three pieces of misinformation regarding the process. Firstly, the wording of the ordinance renewed in 2025 is confusing, and she agreed with Wojtkiewicz that the ordinance was likely copied and pasted from the MEC and had not been reviewed in years. Secondly, the cover sheet provided by the BOE did not specifically state that a separate disclosure needed to be filed with the county. Third, an email was sent out by the Platte County Clerk’s office stating paperwork needed to be filed by May 1, not April 21.
She asked that the commission revisit its ordinance, and whether or not that ordinance is even needed. She also asks for better communication with the BOE to ensure that the correct information is disseminated.
District Commissioner Joe Vanover said as he looked into the situation it became less of an open-and-shut case. He blamed the BOE for providing misinformation to candidates. He also quoted a case from 2000 in Independence where a candidate was disqualified. In that case, the court found that, “The purpose of the personal financial disclosure requirement is to make available to the public information on potential conflicts of interest, not to provide a mechanism to exclude from public office those who are less informed or less diligent.”
Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker disagreed with Berberich and Vanover, standing by the county’s ordinance re-adopted in 2025.
“There is nothing in this ordinance that allows for extraneous factors, like things that will always be outside of the commission’s control. Fricker said, though he did agree with Berberich’s request to work more closely with the BOE to ensure correct information is provided. “All we control is whether or not we’re going to follow through on the ordinance that we passed. That’s a critical question. Do we pass ordinances just so we can ignore them or change them.”
Members of the audience called “yes” to him and Fricker disagreed, calling the ordinance a “mandate for action.”
Fricker cited a document from the county clerk’s office stating six candidates filed disclosures late, and one not at all.
“The thing that governs us, in my opinion, is the order that we wrote,” he said.
He said he believed if Berberich and Vanover did not vote to remove the candidates from the ballot that it would be a violation of law, and that he would not particpate.
That said, Berberich and Vanover voted no on each of the seven proposed ordinances, with Fricker voting yes. Vanover did move to table the ordinances covering the candidates that withdrew, but the motion failed to be seconded.
During officeholder comments, Robinson shared that he had filed open records requests checking compliance with the filing requirement for current and former county officials. Several were found to be non-complaint, including Fricker, who he said did not file a personal financial disclosure with the county clerk in 2023. This raises several questions, he said, including possible selective enforcement of the ordinance, and he is considering submitting the findings to the Missouri Attorney General.
The Board of Elections announced that filing for auditor and treasurer would open again Tuesday, May 5 and close at 5 p.m. Monday, May 11.
Following the vote, Platte County Democrats issued another statement.
“The actions taken in Platte City have shown how important the 2026 elections are going to be. It may be an election unlike any we have seen in our lifetime,” Coyne said. “The attempted removal of candidates from a public ballot should scare each and every American.”
As of Tuesday morning, Kendall announced he plans to file to run as an independent candidate.