Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas City may soon join the growing list of cities in the area, including Lawrence, banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

Election officials said Monday that backers of a smoking ban have collected enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot. Of the more than 6,000 signatures submitted, 4,568 were deemed valid – about 300 more than needed.

The city council has 60 days to decide whether to enact the no-smoking provisions or let voters decide.

The proposed ban would not apply to the casino gaming floors in Kansas City. But it would snuff out smoking in bars and restaurants in the casinos as well as elsewhere in the city.

Kansas City’s existing smoking ban won’t include bars and restaurants until 85 percent of metropolitan-area residents live in smoke-free cities. That threshold has not been met, even though four more suburbs are preparing to ban smoking.

New smoking bans will take effect Wednesday in the Kansas cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Leawood and Shawnee, affecting more than 500 restaurants. Add that number to smokeless eateries affected by Olathe’s existing anti-smoking law and non-smoking restaurants in Johnson County total around 700.