Kansas Citians showed up in force against stadium tax. How’d it compare to past votes?

Joseph Hernandez
·3 min read

The results are in, and Jackson County voters decided against issuing a 40-year, 3/8th-cent sales tax to help pay for a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads and renovations to the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

The ballot measure failed 58% to 42% and lost big in both eastern Jackson County and in Kansas City south of the Missouri River.

Voter turnout for the April special election was much higher than last year’s special election in both Jackson County and Kansas Cit, according to the Jackson County and Kansas City election boards.

However, how many residents came out to vote, and how does it compare to previous elections? How does this vote compare to the last time Kansas City and Jackson County voted on the stadium sales tax?

Here’s what the results say.

How did voters turn out for the special election Tuesday?

In total, 134,958 votes were cast, with 78,352 voting no and 56,606 voting yes.

Of Kansas City’s 219,075 registered voters, only 53,238 voted, which is 24.3% of the population, according to the Kansas City Election Board. Approximately 57.8% of voters said no, and 42.2% voted yes in Kansas City.

Some 34.3% of Jackson County voters participated in Tuesday’s election, and 81,768 of the 239,095 registered cast ballot on the stadium tax.

The Jackson County Election Board indicated that 47,561 voted no and 34,207 voted yes on the measure.

How does it compare to previous elections?

Missouri holds general municipal elections every April, but last night’s turnout was the highest seen in years. The graph below shows the turnout in Kansas City and Jackson County’s election jurisdictions.

“We were excited to see the 34% turnout,” Jackson County election commissioner Sara Zorich told The Star Wednesday morning. “I think that the question really brought people out.”

Here’s how Jackson County and Kansas City came out to voted in past elections:

What were the results of the last Kansas City stadium tax vote?

It has been almost two decades since Kansas City and Jackson County voted on a stadium sales tax. Tuesday’s result presented similarities.

In the November 2004 election, voters turned down a quarter-cent sales tax that would have raised $1.2 billion for improvements to Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums.

The vote two decades ago was a bi-state initiative that included funding for stadium improvements and arts projects.

The 2004 measure needed to pass in Jackson County as well as two of the area’s other four counties: Platte, Clay, Wyandotte and Johnson. It passed in Jackson County, garnering 61% of the vote, but lost in each of the other counties.

The teams returned to the ballots in April 2006, but only in Jackson County. They asked for a 3/8th-cent sales tax to raise $425 million over 25 years, and this ask removed the arts project.

This measure prevailed with 53% approval. A $170 million rolling roof for Truman Sports Complex was also on the ballot, but that failed.

Voter turnout for the 2006 election was 25% in Kansas City and 44% in Jackson County, according to previous Star reporting.