In Missouri, voters will decide on a constitutional amendment for a second time, after the Missouri Supreme Court ordered a new election. In 2022, voters approved a ballot measure allowing legislators to increase the minimum required funding for a state board-established police force. As of 2024, there is just one state board-established police force, the Kansas City Police Department.

On April 30, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the amendment, which received 63.19% of the vote, will reappear on the ballot for Nov. 5, 2024. Judge Paul C. Wilson wrote the ruling, which said the auditor’s fiscal note for the measure, which is featured on the ballot, was inaccurate. He wrote, “A new election is the only remedy authorized by statute for such circumstances.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) filed the lawsuit against the measure in 2023, saying that the fiscal note on the ballot measure was inaccurate and misled voters. He said that local officials informed the state government prior to the election that the ballot measure would cost Kansas City $39 million. The fiscal note said that “state and local governmental entities estimate no additional costs or savings related to this proposal.” 

In 2022, the Missouri State Legislature referred the amendment to the ballot. The Senate voted 23-10 to pass the amendment on March 21, 2022. In the Senate, 22 Republicans, along with one Democrat, supported the amendment, while nine Democrats, along with one Republican, opposed the amendment. The House voted 103-44 to pass the amendment on May 13, 2022. In the House, 100 Republicans, along with three Democrats, voted for the amendment, while 44 Democrats, along with three Republicans, opposed the measure.

Mayor Lucas, who opposed the amendment, responded to the court ruling. He said, “The Missouri Supreme Court sided with what is fair and just: the people of Kansas City’s voices should not be ignored in conversations about our own safety. This is an important decision standing up for the rights of cities and their people.”

Missouri State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R), who supported the amendment, also responded, saying, “The voters of every county in this state overwhelmingly passed Amendment 4 in 2022. I’m confident they’ll do the same this November. The mayor’s radical agenda to defund the Kansas City Police Department will never take root in Missouri.”

Voters in Missouri will also decide at least one other constitutional amendment on Nov. 5, 2024, which would exempt childcare establishments from property tax.