The legal battle over Missouri’s new congressional map is heating up.
Republican state lawmakers last year approved a new map that’s designed to give them one more GOP House seat. In response, opponents filed petitions to prevent the map from being used until a referendum can be held in November to determine whether voters want to allow it to go into effect.
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Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) rejected the petitions Tuesday, contending the state constitution doesn’t allow citizens to put forward a referendum on congressional maps. Richard von Glahn of People Not Politicians, the anti-gerrymandering group that spearheaded the petition drive, said Hoskins is wrong and promptly sued to get the referendum on the November ballot.
If the effort succeeds in court, the state will be thrust into an unusual legal and electoral situation.
The ballot measure is supposed to prevent the new map from being used until voters weigh in — but the state used the new map in Tuesday’s primaries. Ordinarily, primaries and general elections must be conducted using the same set of maps so that they’re decided by the same pool of voters.
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If a court approves the request for a referendum for November, it may have to wrestle with other questions, such as whether Tuesday’s primary winners are the proper nominees for November.
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