KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Voters in this border city have said “yes” to allowing Sunday sales at liquor stores, even though state law technically still says “no.”

Officials of the local government think they can make a strong argument that, technically, the state law has long been construed incorrectly.

For years, Kansas legislators have rejected measures that would repeal the state’s ban on sales of packaged beer, wine and liquor on Sundays. And for just as long, many retailers have chafed at the ban, especially in communities bordering states that allow Sunday sales.

Commissioners of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., decided in August to ask voters whether Sunday sales should be allowed at liquor stores. By a 60 percent to 40 percent margin, voters on Tuesday approved the measure.

In Edwardsville, also located in Wyandotte County, the City Council in August unanimously approved a charter ordinance allowing its one liquor store to open on Sunday.

Those actions put the two cities on a collision course with the state Department of Revenue’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Officials of the division have said they did not believe cities could exempt themselves from the ban.

The ban is a provision of the state Liquor Control Act, adopted in 1949 after Kansas abandoned prohibition.

Now, in light of Tuesday’s vote, the division is consulting with the Attorney General’s Office on the issue.

“We will respond” to the election, said Lisa Kaspar, a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue. “We just want to make sure we’re in line with the direction they (the Attorney General’s Office) want to take.”

Unified Government officials’ argument stems from a provision of the Kansas Constitution allowing cities to exempt themselves from certain statutes, such as those that do not apply uniformly to all cities.

Because the Liquor Control Act contains some statutes that do not apply to all cities, the Unified Government officials contend, cities can exempt themselves from the act, including the ban on Sunday sales.

Spokesman Don Denney said the Unified Government anticipated that the state would take some kind of action against the measure.

“However, we … are confident that we will be able to follow through with the voters’ wishes in the end,” Denney said. “We don’t know how long that’s going to take.”