JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed the results of a 2022 vote in which Missourians overwhelmingly approved a measure forcing Kansas City to pay more for its police.

The extraordinary decision found that Missouri voters were misled by statewide officials when they approved the measure, called Amendment 4. It calls for a new election to be held in November.

Judge Paul C. Wilson wrote in the opinion that the financial estimates on the ballot question that voters saw in 2022 failed to “concisely and accurately advise voters” of its impact on Kansas City.

“Worse, the fiscal note summary actually misled voters by suggesting Amendment No. 4 would have no fiscal impact when the fiscal note identified a sizeable one,” Wilson wrote.

Tuesday’s decision to toss the results of an election is unprecedented and marks a major victory for Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who sued over the ballot question last year.

“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,” Lucas said on social media on Tuesday.

The amendment that is now void required Kansas City to increase the amount of general revenue it spends on its police department from 20% to 25%. More than 63% of Missouri voters approved the measure in November 2022.

The crux of Tuesday’s decision focused on the fiscal note that voters saw on the ballot, which said that “local governmental entities estimate no additional costs or savings related to this proposal.” The court found that this was misleading.

The state’s highest court ruled that because this financial information was the last thing that voters read before voting, it cast doubt on the results of the election. Wilson was joined by three other judges in his decision. Judges Ginger K. Gooch and Robin Ransom each dissented in two separate opinions.

Lucas, in his lawsuit against the results, argued that before the election, Kansas City officials had informed then-Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat who did not run for re-election, and Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is running for governor, that the ballot measure would cost the city more than $38.7 million and force the city to cut spending on other services.

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