Marijuana legalization headed toward victory in Missouri; KCPD funding measure passes

Polls in Missouri were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m as voters in the Kansas City area cast their ballots in Tuesday’s elections.

Voters had the opportunity to make their picks for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House in Washington, D.C., and in the Missouri State Senate and House of Representatives in Jefferson City.

The biggest of those races was for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri as Sen. Roy Blunt retires. In that race, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, defeated Democratic candidate Trudy Busch Valentine.

Missourians voted on five ballot questions including recreational marijuana to KCPD funding. Late Tuesday, both measures were headed toward passage.

Kansas City voters decided also on two city questions regarding bonds that would pay for improvements to parks and affordable housing.

Legalized recreational marijuana headed toward victory

Updated 12:15 a.m. Missourians will likely soon be able to head to their local weed dispensary and buy recreational marijuana gummies, joints and other products.

Voters across the Show-Me State on Tuesday are headed toward voting to legalize adult recreational marijuana use through the state constitution, making Missouri one of 20 states to legalize and tax the drug.

Legal Missouri 2022 claimed victory for Amendment 3 around 11:30 p.m.

As of 11:58 p.m., the constitutional amendment received about 1,081,028 votes in favor and 950,712 votes against after 88% of precincts in the state reported.

Missouri voters support amendment on KCPD funding

Updated 10:28 p.m. Missouri voters on Tuesday appeared to overwhelmingly support an amendment to the state constitution that would require Kansas City to spend more money on its police force.

The measure mandates that Kansas City increase the allocation from its general revenue fund to the police department from 20% to 25%.

With 65 percent of the vote in, about 64 percent of voters approved the measure. Kansas City voters, however, were rejecting the measure.

Platte County commission race

Updated 10:20 p.m. In the contest for the open seat as Platte County’s Presiding Commissioner, Republican Scott Fricker defeated Democratic challenger John DeFoor Sr. to serve as the leader of the county’s board of commissioners for the next four years.

Fricker, of Parkville, won 55% of voters who cast ballots by Tuesday, gliding to victory as DeFoor garnered 45% of the vote, according to unofficial results shared Tuesday night by the Platte County Board of Elections.

Former TV news anchor Alford wins U.S. House seat

Updated 10 p.m. Republican Mark Alford, a former longtime TV news anchor in Kansas City, appeared to be headed to victory Tuesday, keeping Missouri’s 4th Congressional District under staunch conservative control.

Republican Rep. Sam Graves also appears to have won in the Missouri 6th Congressional District, a Northland seat he has held since 2001.

The 4th District was the area’s only open seat, following Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s decision to give up her seat for an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run. The district stretches from the southern and eastern edges of the Kansas City metro — beginning near Raymore and Blue Springs — to central Missouri, including portions of Columbia.

The general election was not meaningfully competitive — the Democratic candidate, Jack Truman, raised only a few hundred dollars compared to nearly $714,000 for Alford. With 264 of 362 precincts reporting at 9:50 p.m., Alford had 77% of the vote, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. Truman had 20.5%.

Schmitt wins U.S. Senate race in Missouri

Updated 9:21 p.m. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday after a campaign that centered on appealing to conservative voters with a promise to “take a blowtorch” to President Joe Biden’s agenda.

He easily defeated Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine, who lent her own campaign more than $16 million as she unsuccessfully tried to flip the Republican Party’s hold on a U.S. Senate seat in an increasingly red state that was once considered the bellwether of the nation.

“We are fighting for the working men and women of this country who’ve been left behind by Joe Biden — the disaster we’ve seen the last two years,” Schmitt said at a campaign stop in Columbia Monday. “We’ve got an opportunity to change that. Because, like you, I believe in this country.”

The Associated Press called the race for Schmitt at 9:12 p.m. He was leading Busch Valentine by 26%, with 718 of 3,266 reporting, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

Legal Missouri watch party

Updated 7:55 p.m. Spirits were high at the Amendment 3 watch party at Tasso’s Greek Restaurant on Wornall Road in Kansas City.

A dish was on fire (on purpose), and someone enthusiastically shouted, “Opa!” There are around 60 plus people mingling at the Greek restaurant about 45 minutes after polls closed as they await election results.

The party is hosted by Legal Missouri 2022, the campaign that led the push for the amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana in the state, along with Clovr Cannabis, Reale Justice Network and Norml KC.

Guests erupted in cheers when Clovr Founder Josh Mitchem announced that early results the group saw are in favor of Amendment 3. Reale Justice Network founder Justice Gatson said, “I want every single person in here to clap. Missouri deserves this one and my goodness y’all we need it. We need a win.”

Eric Schmitt supporters upbeat for his Senate chances

Updated 7:50 p.m. Supporters of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, began to trickle in to the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights shortly after closed polls Tuesday.

The energy in the hotel’s ballroom was optimistic as soft rock classics such as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man” wafted from the speakers.

Anthony Kelly told The Star he traveled from the Springfield area to support Schmitt, saying he felt the Republican was the most down to earth candidate in the race.

“We don’t speak for everybody in the whole state, but we think his chances are good here,” he said.

Marjorie Manahan, a Schmitt supporter from another suburb, St. Charles, said the bevy of legal actions Schmitt filed as the state’s attorney general separated him from Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine.

“I think he’s got a great record,” she said. “I think he’s really proven himself.”

Here’s what we will — and won’t — know on election night in Kansas, Missouri midterms

Updated 7:40 p.m. After months of campaigning, it was up to voters Tuesday to decide who will represent residents of the Kansas City area.

From senators’ and governors’ races to ballot questions on marijuana legalization and police funding, a myriad of races will be decided by voters.

But how much will we know on election night? While we’re likely to see many preliminary results that will most likely be the outcomes, the official results won’t be finalized until more than a week after election night.

Here’s what we can expect to learn, and what we’ll have to wait to find out.

‘Believe it or not, I voted yes’

Updated 6:51 p.m. David Jacks, 68, and a Navy veteran, is semi-retired and works in carpentry. He is conservative and feels the country is headed in the wrong direction, pointing to increased costs in gas and grocery prices.

“I didn’t like Trump personally, but I liked what he did,” he said. “I thought he had the country going in at least the right direction in terms of what we could afford to do.”

“Believe it or not, I voted yes,” he said of amendment 3, adding that he doesn’t use marijuana personally. “I think we waste too much money on keeping people in jail, criminal prosecution.”

“I don’t think that it should be criminalized like back when they did when I was growing up.”

You be the judge: What to know about judicial retention

Updated: 6:17 p.m. Along with state representatives, county commissioners and Congressional candidates, voters across the Kansas City metro will be deciding whether to retain judges when they visit the ballot box.

For Missouri, the system of judicial retention works as a check by the voters as judges are appointed to the bench. Judges face an initial retention election following the first year, then are called up again periodically on the ballot for retention.

If a judge fails to win retention — a rare outcome — the position is filled with a new appointment through a state committee selection process. For more information about judicial retention, check The Star’s guide here.

Voting for legalized recreational marijuana

Updated 5:59 p.m. Jennifer Cummings, 40, owns a construction company.

She was eager to vote in support of Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

“I had cancer and was on every imaginable pain medication: fentanyl patches, morphine patches, Xanax, and it’s just not safe,” she said. “I feel safer for pain and anxiety doing something that’s naturally grown, and I don’t think it should be as hard to get, and the stigma shouldn’t be there.”

She also took time to vote out some judges. Cummings, who is in favor of term limits for judges, wants to see new people on the bench.

A focus on public education

Updated 5:38 p.m. Elementary school teacher Andrew Wallenberg, 39, voted Tuesday afternoon at Van Horn High School in Independence.

It was important to him to vote against Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the U.S. Senate race, Wallenberg said. He voted for Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine instead.

“I think some of the choices that he’s made are questionable,” Wallenberg said. “I worry about what an impact he could have on public education. He doesn’t seem very friendly towards public education.

“As a teacher it’s important to me that we elect representatives who help our public education department and not try to prevent us from doing our job.”

Wallenberg also voted in favor of Amendment 3. He hopes it passes and that Missouri can increase its tax revenue.

“So many other states are doing it; I feel like we’re missing out on dollars that are going over state lines.”

He said there’s an “ominous tone” to what’s going on politically nationwide, and he’ll be a bit nervous watching national results come in tonight.

What is Amendment 4? Missourians will decide funding for KCPD

Updated 5:13 p.m.: An amendment to the Missouri constitution that will be taken up by voters in every corner of the state stands to expand Jefferson City’s influence over the Kansas City Police Department, marking the latest chapter in conflict specific to Kansas City over local vs. state control of its police force.

Known as Amendment 4, the constitutional measure would allow the enactment of laws for police forces established by a state board of police commissioners —in other words, Kansas City’s — that increase the minimum funding threshold for those police departments. KCPD is the only police force in Missouri overseen by a state board and with state control over its budget.

If approved by Missouri voters, the amendment would allow a separate law passed during the last legislative session to take effect, which would raise the minimum amount Kansas City pays of its total revenues to the police department from 20% to 25%.

Kansas City votes on $175 million bond for parks & affordable housing

Updated 4:45 p.m. In the Nov. 8 election, Kansas City voters will vote on two major bond initiatives that could lead to $175 million investment in Kansas City’s parks, recreation, entertainment facilities and affordable housing initiatives.

In order for bond initiatives to pass in Missouri, there has to be a supermajority, which means roughly 57% of voters need to vote yes in order for it to pass.

Ballot questions about the $175 bond issue will be separated into two questions on the ballot, so each question will need more than 57% of the vote in order to pass.

If both questions pass, $125 million will go to parks, recreation and entertainment facilities around the city, and $50 million will go toward the city’s Housing Trust Fund.

Five questions Missouri voters will see on the ballot

Updated 3:26 p.m. Missouri voters will have five questions on their ballot on Election Day.

In addition to choosing their preferred candidates, Missourians will weigh in on the issues of state investments, marijuana, KCPD funding, a new department and a state constitutional convention.

You can read more about these statewide measures on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website. Note that there is no measure with the name “Amendment 2,” but there are five questions total.

Read more about what a yes and no vote means for each of the ballot questions here.

Casting her vote while hoping for help

Updated 3:05 p.m. Anjulette Smith, 50, of Northeast Kansas City left the Independence Avenue Baha’i Faith Center after casting her vote on Tuesday. In one hand, she had a black cane, the result of years of rheumatoid arthritis. Across her mouth, she wore a mask with the face of a brown cat, whose cotton ears flapped as she spoke.

Smith considers herself an Independent. She likes the Republican party’s stance on immigration, but wants to see U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Missouri’s 5th Congressional District serve another term in office.

Still, she feels most of the issues that affect her life don’t get talked about. While she’s retired, Smith spends most of her time working at the Outreach Market Food Pantry in the North Kansas City YMCA. She’s shocked at the amount of people going food insecure. One woman, Smith said, came to her hungry a few weeks ago. The woman’s food stamps had been cut. She didn’t know where to get help.

“We’re still in pandemic mode as far as I’m concerned and now the people trying to feed themselves are in a worse position,” Smith said.

Smith confided that as a child she too suffered from food insecurity.

“There’s people in my family, my neighbors, who’ve been in this position,” she said. “This time of year, everybody’s thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas, but people are suicidal and in distress. They need help.”

Voting on an issue that’s personal

Updated 2:05 p.m. For Alex Carr, 30, of Northeast Kansas City, casting a ballot at Baha’i Faith Center in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana felt emotional.

He works full-time at Missie B’s as a gogo dancer and drag queen under the name Verida Pressed. Carr contends that both he and his community would be be safer if the amendment passed.

The 30-year-old spent a year and seven months on probation for possessing an ounce of marijuana, he said. The amendment would give him the chance to get his record expunged.

“I’m looking forward to not being looked at by jobs as like a villain or a criminal,” he said.

“[Employers] see there’s something on my background and even after seeing how hard I work they say they can’t accept me.”

When asked to describe what the amendment meant to him, he said “Freedom.”

Empowering customers to become voters

Updated 12:40 p.m. Patrick Froman, 41, and Stephanie Miller, 37, stopped by their polling location at 814 W 26th Street to cast their ballots before clocking in at their vintage clothing store in the West Bottoms, Fetch. Since the store opened in 2017, the two best friends have offered customers 10% discounts and other specials to voters every Election Day.

“We’ve shared voter guides and just tried to make sure everyone is informed and empowered to vote,” Miller said. “Especially in local elections.”

For Froman, voting is crucial to keeping Eric Schmitt out of the U.S. Senate.

“He attacks people with lawsuits... In my opinion he’s gone after people he didn’t need to go after and I think it’s important he doesn’t become our Senator and waste our tax dollars on lawsuits and other frivolous things,” he said, citing the bevy of headline-grabbing litigation Schmitt has used his office as Missouri Attorney General to file in his efforts to court conservative voters over the past few years.

“And he also doesn’t believe Joe Biden is our president,” Miller said, while nudging Froman.

“Oh right, I almost forgot about that. That’s stupid,” he said laughing.

‘Make it legal, baby’

Updated 12:04 p.m. Mike Hernandez of Northeast Kansas City was out at the polls on Tuesday morning, but will be back at the polls in a few hours with some of his family members. And then again, hours later with more family. He said it’s his job to make sure everyone comes out to vote.

For him, it comes down to one amendment on the ballot.

“We got to get that marijuana,” he said with a bellowing laugh.

He fist-bumped a man stationed at the front of the polling place.

“Make it legal, baby, make it legal.”

Hernandez said he expects there to be a lot of revenue coming out of the industry, if marijuana is legalized. Hopefully it can help taxes go down, he said.

He also looks forward to seeing people who’ve been imprisoned for certain non-violent offenses relating to weed petition for release.

“It costs more to keep them in there,” he said.

If it passes, Hernandez, now retired, said he’ll be spending the day celebrating outside and smoking on the corner.

Free drinks for voters

Updated 11:00 a.m. Kansas City’s Rochester Brewing and Roasting Company is giving out free drinks all day on Election Day to encourage people to vote.

From now until the coffee shop and brewery closes at 9 p.m., you can get one free coffee, tea or draft beer at both Rochester locations: 2129 Washington St. in the Crossroads, and 100 S. Main St. in Parkville.

A representative from Rochester told The Star the free drink offer went well during the 2020 election, so they decided to do it again this year for the midterm.

You don’t need to show a sticker or proof of voting to get your free drink. Just mention that you voted and heard about the Election Day special.

Making time to vote

Updated 10:50 a.m. Kendra Valentine frantically woke up her fiancee Rogelio Avila Tuesday morning. Her mind had been racing through nail appointments and arrangements for their wedding on Friday. She had forgotten all about Election Day.

The couple left their home a few blocks from Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church and rushed to the voting booth.

“We looked at each other and said do we even have time,” Avila said, chuckling.

“This is really important,” Valentine said. “With all these polarizing issues we finally started voting a few years ago. Its especially important for us on the local level too.”

She explained that while the lack of affordable housing in Kansas City hasn’t affected them personally, they’re seeing their neighbors get priced out of their homes due to rising rents.

“We’re seeing neighbors get kicked out of their homes. And its a lot of families. A lot of single moms. It’s really sad,” she said.

Avila also felt strongly about voting for amendment three, the legalization of marijuana.

“If it’s legal you have more people checking to make sure its not laced with fentanyl and it’s safe. We shouldn’t be letting people die from this,” he said.

Voting with patriotic purpose

Updated 10:10 a.m. Election day always makes George Rowles Sr. feel patriotic. Now a 91-year-old veteran of the Korean War, Rowles rolled into the Mt. Sinai Missinary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday morning to cast his ballot.

“You got to keep America running, you have to keep it together,” he said of showing up to vote.

“If you don’t vote and you complain, you didn’t use your rights. Its all a part of being an American citizen.”

It’s been decades since his first vote. His legs no longer work like they used to. He often relies on the VA for care. But Rowles appeared cheerful. A part of him hoped he’d even meet a girlfriend outside the voting booth. He flashed his blue eyes and creased grin at everyone that passed, struggling to contain his joy.

“A lot of people don’t even live to 91 and here I am, still voting,” he said.

New voter ID rules in place in Missouri

Updated 9:23 a.m. The Kansas City, Missouri, Election Board has tweeted out a reminder to voters that in order to vote, they must have a Missouri or federal-issued ID, such as a military ID. If voters do not have an acceptable ID, they will only be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

That’s because a new Missouri voting law is now in effect, and its most immediate impact is restricting the types of IDs voters can use.

Eligible IDs include a Missouri driver’s license, a Missouri non-driving photo ID card, a military ID, a veteran’s card with a photo on it or a non-expired U.S. passport. Consult the Missouri secretary of state’s website for the full list.

Day starts with slow turnout at some polls, after early a.m. rush

Updated 7:59 a.m. Nathan Eisenhauer, 46, of Beacon Hill left Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, feeling proud to have spent another year voting for the state’s Democratic party.

But, he said, it made him uncomfortable to see the state require a Missouri issued ID to cast a ballot. Residents with driver’s licenses from another state will be given a provisional ballot, even if they bring along a proof of residence like a utility bill with their Missouri address on it.

“As I see those are restrictions on certain people who have limited access to get those types of documents,” he said.

“I don’t have a huge concern with people cheating in voting. If it’s happening, I don’t think its a large enough population to worry about this and that to vote.”

Few others made the trek to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Tuesday morning. Polling officials said they experienced an initial rush upon opening at 6 a.m., but that had died down significantly within the hour.

Where to go to vote?

Updated 6:58 a.m. Voters anywhere in Missouri can check their polling place by entering their address into the state’s online Voter Outreach Center portal here.

Some voting locations have changed since the primary election just a few months ago. Here’s a list compiled by The Star of which polling sites have changed in the greater Kansas City area.

Now that the polls have opened, elections officials are reminding voters to go over a simple voter checklist before they head out to make sure they have everything they need to vote.

Missouri no longer allows out-of-state ID’s for voting. The list of acceptable ID’s in Missouri can be found here.

GET READY TO VOTE WITH OUR MISSOURI VOTER GUIDE

As you get ready to head to the polls, make sure you know what is on your ballot with our Missouri voter guide. It includes details on what candidates are running and where they stand on issues. This free tool is informed by questions submitted by Star readers like you.

The Star’s Matti Gellman, Anna Spoerre, Kynala Phillips, Daniel Desrochers and Kacen Bayless contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.