FORT SCOTT, Kan. —Bourbon County Clerk Susan Walker filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to immediately halt the circulation of a recall petition against her, arguing the effort is legally invalid and damaging to her professional reputation. Walker's filing includes a request for a temporary restraining order, which if granted would stop petition organizers from collecting signatures while the broader case proceeds.
Lawsuit Challenges Recall Validity
The lawsuit, filed May 22 in Bourbon County District Court, names County Attorney James Crux and recall committee members Kyle R. Parks, Kevin Wagner and Lyle K. Owenby as defendants. In the filings, Walker asks the court to order organizers to cease circulating the petition and to block any potential recall election from being held or certified.
Walker's attorney, Jonathan L. Ehrlich, argues that the recall petition currently being circulated is invalid because Crux never formally reviewed or provided notice regarding the sufficiency of the committee's second, amended draft. Crux had previously certified an initial draft on April 27 but determined that a portion alleging misconduct was insufficient to proceed.
The lawsuit also contends that the petition's primary ground for recall — 'failure to perform duties prescribed by law' — lacks the legal specificity required under Kansas statutes to allow Walker a meaningful opportunity to respond, and fails to establish a connection between the alleged conduct and her duties in office.
Clerk Defends Election Response
The recall attempt stems from a November 2025 General Election ballot error in which USD 235 school board candidate options were omitted from early voting ballots.
According to Walker's court petition, her office first received a complaint about the ballots at 9:51 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2025. Walker said her staff immediately worked with their election vendor to set up a corrected ballot and printed 2,600 new ballots overnight, ensuring they were delivered to polling stations before voting began on Election Day.
While 52 early voters cast ballots without the school board options, the filing says an internal review showed those votes would not have altered the final outcome of the election.
GOP Chair Accuses Clerk of Intimidation
The lawsuit follows a separate dispute over a May 9 press release in which Walker publicized the names and alleged voting histories of the recall petition's sponsors and circulators, specifying which individuals had voted in the 2025 election and which had not. Walker said she obtained the information through a standard Kansas Open Records Act, or KORA, request.
In a statement pinned to the party's official Facebook page on May 12 and included in Walker's latest court filing, Bourbon County Republican Party Chairwoman Kaety Bowers criticized the release, calling the targeted disclosure of voter records "retaliatory".
'While voter data is public under KORA, its selective and targeted release against political critics — especially when some named individuals have stated they did vote — suggests retaliatory intent, raises questions about record accuracy, and crosses a line into intimidation,' Bowers said.
Bowers said many of the individuals named by Walker are Republican precinct committee members who voted no confidence in Walker on April 9 over the ballot errors, and that multiple residents have expressed hesitation to speak out or participate in local government due to fears of reprisal.
The petition organizers had until July 26 to gather the 2,374 signatures required to force a recall election. Rulings on Walker's requests for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction remain pending.
Both of Walker’s latest filings, as well as Bowers' statement, are linked below.
