Missouri Voters to Decide Their Own Maps

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

One year ago, in September of 2025, the Missouri Legislature quickly passed a measure that creaded new gerrymandered maps for Missouri's nine congressional districts, and the governor just as quickly signed the measure into law.  The legislature had been ordered by the Trump administration to redraw its congressional maps to eliminate a traditional Democratic seat in Kansas City, and it complied posthaste without checking in with Missouri voters to get their opinions on the matter,  As soon as the new maps were signed into law, initiative petitions began being passed in the state to secure a vote of the public on the matter.    

More than enough signatures were quickly generated to bring the matter to a referendum vote of the people, but Missouri's Republiucan secretary of state took no action on the petitions until it was too late to act before the 2026 primary elections in August, and congressional primaries were held based on the new, gerrymandered maps that would give Republicans an extra member of Congress.

But a citizen's group took the matter to court, and a series of decisions rapidly ensued in which Missouri's Supreme court twice ruled that the November election would have to be held based on the old maps, federal courts twice ruled that the new maps were to be used, and the US Supreme Court got involved in the matter three times and gave rulings in favor of the old maps on each occasion.

That's where the "show-me" state's voting mess stood this week as absentee voting began on Tuesday.   Missouri is apparently using the old congressional maps, the ones approved by the state legislature four years ago, and not the newer ones approved on Trump's orders last year.

But not only will Missourians get to vote according to the old congressional maps in November instead of the new Trump gerrymandered maps, they will also get to vote on which maps will be used in the future.  Proposition A on the November ballot reads:

"Do the poeple of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled "House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session)," which repeals Missouri's existing congressional plan, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more counties in tact?"

People who favor the new maps should vote "yes," and those who favor a more pure distillation of democracy and support the old maps and vote "no."

Pa Rock will be casting his vote against the political machinations of Donald John Trump and Stephen Miller and voting "no" on Proposition A.   Missourians are fully capable of making our own political decisions and drawing our own congressional maps.  We don't need a posse of carpetbagging clowns rushing in to do it for us!