Candidate With Felony Record Disqualifed in Lee’s Summit

A Lee’Summit City Council candidate was disqualifed Monday, hours before the polls in his race opened.
Franklin Tatro was disqualified because a 1996 felony conviction.
He served four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, according to state records.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker asked Judge James Kanatzer to disqualify Tatro from the District 1 race.
He was facing Rob Binney and Susan Coffman.
At a hearing, “Tatro represented himself.
He agreed that since his name could not be removed a day before voting, election officials would simply not count the votes he receives.
Baker says the decision protects Lee Summit District 1 voters.
Tatro says he hopes to get his record expunged by the state of Missouri.
He hopes to run for the state legislature in 2018