The Jackson County Circuit Court Administrator's office today will mail out 555 ballots to people who successfully applied to participate in the downtown streetcar district election.

This is a special mail-in election only for registered voters living within the proposed downtown streetcar district, running generally from River Market to Crown Center. The question is whether the special transportation development district for the streetcar project should be approved. A subsequent election may be held later this year, asking voters to approve specific property and sales tax increases within that streetcar district.

The Kansas City Election Board initially had calculated that about 6,000 people were registered to vote within the district boundaries. That included about 3,500 "active" voters who recently voted and 2,500 others who have not voted in recent elections.

Those registered voters were invited to apply with the Jackson County Circuit Court for a ballot. Just over 600 people applied, but some of those were thrown out because they failed to provide proof of registration, or failed to sign their application -- even after being notified and reminded about that failure.

The ballots will be mailed out today to qualified voters who successfully applied. They're due back by July 31. The Kansas City Election Board is expected to certify the results of this election in early August.