Elections

Kansas City voters will decide on April 8 whether to renew the public safety sales tax for 20 more years. Officials plan to use the bulk of the money to build a new municipal detention center. Despite concerns about property crime and gun violence, some residents don’t want a new jail built.

Voters in Independence, Missouri, will consider whether to approve a $197 million general obligation bond on April's ballot. The majority of the money would fund building a new police campus, but money for infrastructure and the city's youth sports complex are also under consideration.

Kansas City is asking voters to buy into its public school system for the first time in nearly 60 years. Even after Kansas City Public Schools regained accreditation and turned the tide of student performance, crumbling buildings offer a persistent reminder of the city's disinvestment. It's a relationship strained by decades of racism, a history-making desegregation case and plenty of internal turmoil.

Voters in the Park Hill School District will see two tax measures on their April 8 ballot. Proposition G would raise the operating tax rate to support teacher salary increases. Proposition O would allow the district to borrow money for building renovations and replacements.

The bond question in North Kansas City's April 8 election would help build new performing arts centers and two high schools and fund renovations at middle schools. The district says the tax rate would stay the same whether or not voters approve the bond.

The bond plan calls for building new elementary schools, major renovations and reopening Southwest High School as a middle school. Kansas City voters have not passed a bond for KCPS since the 1960s, and the district has been left with more than $600 million worth of repair needs.

A proposed state constitutional amendment would require Kansas Supreme Court justices to be elected rather than appointed by the governor.

El impuesto a las ventas de seguridad pública de Kansas City se ha utilizado para apoyar al departamento de policía y los servicios médicos y de emergencia. El alcalde Quinton Lucas y otros funcionarios quieren que los votantes lo renueven para que la ciudad pueda usar el dinero para construir una nueva cárcel y un centro de rehabilitación.

After years of legal fights, Westwood residents are voting in a special election to decide the fate of Joe D. Dennis Park. The small patch of land has come to encompass tensions over city power, green space, development, and First Amendment rights.

Kansas City’s public safety sales tax has been used to support the police department and emergency and medical services. Mayor Quinton Lucas and other officials want voters to renew it so the city can use the money to build a new jail and rehabilitation center.

Missouri voters approved Proposition A by a martin of 15% and more than 445,000 votes. But business groups argue that the ballot measure violates state law.

A final tally of votes in the Feb. 25 special election shows opponents edging bond supporters by only 319 votes. Wichita school district leaders say they plan to regroup and consider next steps.