KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Voters will start to have their say Tuesday on whether to approve a sales tax that would help build a downtown baseball stadium and help fund improvements to Arrowhead Stadium.
The Jackson County Election Board is ready for an increase in the number of voters with the future of the two teams on the ballot.
“We can see the interest in what was going on and we decided to up our ballot order just to make sure we had all of our polls covered and we had ballots for everyone,” said Tammy Brown, Director of the Jackson County Election Board.
Brown said Jackson County voters don’t need an excuse to file an absentee ballot.
You can just head to early voting locations with an ID.
Jackson County legislators talked about the cost of the April 2 election at their regular Monday legislative meeting.
“Really, what we asked and didn’t have the people to answer today, is why Kansas City, who has the same number of voters as in eastern Jackson County, has three times more costs that they are asking us to reimburse them in this particular election,” Jackson County Legislator Sean Smith said.
The legislature also is still working out details ahead of the stadiums tax vote, including Jackson County Executive Frank White asking the two teams to pay for the cost of the special election.
“As the teams got closer to them starting their campaign and it was $1 million the first time and they came back with another $1 million, I thought if they are going to spend $2 million to try and pass this tax, then why don’t they help us out with the election costs?” White said.
Smith is in favor of help from both teams to cover election costs.
“I think it would be fantastic if the teams want to reimburse the county a million dollars like the county executive asked,” Smith said. “The fact is the election cost is largely because the teams asked to be on an April ballot when there wasn’t a lot going on. I can’t speak to the likelihood.”
The county’s top elected officials are waiting on details.
“I think tomorrow with early voting started and the lack of information other than saying, ‘Keep the Royals and the Chiefs here for 40 years,’ I just don’t know what the people are voting on,” White said. “They have nothing they can hang their hat on. I think it’s more voting with their heart at that point more than anything else.”
