On April 1, the Kansas State Legislature voted to send a constitutional amendment to the November ballot that would require the election of county sheriffs in counties that had not abolished the office as of January 2022 and would provide that sheriffs may be recalled from office or removed by a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.
Currently, state law provides for the election of a county sheriff for four years, except where counties have adopted, through a ballot measure, a consolidated county law enforcement agency that “assumes control of the principal law enforcement duties presently held by the county and the cities therein.” The law enforcement agency would not have a sheriff. This law was adopted in 1974 and was implemented by Riley County, the only county out of the state’s 105 that does not have a sheriff.
Under current state law, voters can recall a sheriff by submitting a petition containing valid signatures equal to at least 40% of the voters who voted in the last sheriff election.
