County Clerk Susan Walker’s routine June 15 request to use the commission room for early voting, election nights and election school touched off a heated exchange over a room that is at the center of a criminal case.

The commission room has doubled as election space for years: voting booths line the courthouse hallway while the room itself is used to check in voters and handle provisional ballots. It was that arrangement, on October 25, 2025, that put Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee in legal jeopardy. Security-camera footage reviewed by FortScott.biz showed Milburn-Kee seated at the commission table, beside a stack of what the clerk said were unverified provisional ballots, reading a newspaper and waving to a voter while early voting was underway. Walker twice told her election law barred her from the polling area; Milburn-Kee objected that it was her office before moving out about twelve minutes later. In March 2026 the Kansas Attorney General charged her with two misdemeanors, including the polling-place “three-foot rule,” a count that would force her from office if she is convicted. Her jury trial is set to begin July 6, 2026, with a pre-trial conference June 26.

Against that backdrop, Milburn-Kee moved June 15 to deny Walker’s request to use the room, citing its many uses and noting it is the only workspace she has. Walker pushed back saying she has nowhere else, no budget to rent space, and the room is her most secure option. Chairman Samuel Tran disputed that it is “secure,” and the two talked over each other until Walker asked Tran “please don’t be disrespectful to me” and he replied that she was “coming to the table asking for a favor,” and finally telling her to “do what you have to do, madam.” Tran alluded to a past “issue” he didn’t want to “resurface.” Milburn-Kee’s motion failed. Milburn-Kee and Tran were the only ones who voted for it with the rest of the commission against. Commissioner Gregg Motley’s motion to grant Walker’s full request passed with Tran and Milburn-Kee voting against.

The dispute turned on whether the clerk had a workable alternative. Tran proposed moving early voting to the courthouse’s main atrium and using County Appraiser Matt Quick’s office and conference room. Walker rejected that as neither secure nor convenient for her election judges, calling the commission room “the securest” space available; she said she has no other location and no budget to rent one. Milburn-Kee argued the room is needed for its “multi-use purpose,” she said it is her only workspace and that she comes in early and on weekends to set it up, and noted her motion would still lend Walker the county’s Public Works and maintenance crews to move and set up election equipment. Commissioner David Beerbower was skeptical, noting the county would not ask the appraiser or other courthouse officeholders to give up their offices: “I’m baffled.” Commissioner Joe Allen framed the conflict as narrow, “four Mondays, four meetings,” the handful of Monday commission meetings that fall within the voting window, which Walker said she had already worked around so the board could still meet.

The exchange begins around 1:20:43 in the June 15 meeting video.