Missouri Voters File Impasse Lawsuit with Support of the National Redistricting Action Fund
Contact
Brooke Lillard
Lillard@redistrictingaction.org
Missouri Voters File Impasse Lawsuit with Support of the National Redistricting Action Fund
Washington, D.C. — In a petition today to the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri voters supported by the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) are asking the court to step in to draw new congressional districts for the state.
Current dynamics make it clear that various factions of the Republican Party in the Republican-led state legislature will not be able to reach an agreement on a congressional map in a timely manner for the 2022 election cycle. The purpose of this lawsuit, also known as “impasse litigation,” is to ask the court to enact a new map based on 2020 Census data, allowing the 2022 election cycle to continue in a timely manner.
“Republican legislators in Missouri have been too busy fighting over their personal and political interests in the congressional map, and have left the state’s voters in the lurch,” said Marina Jenkins, Director of Litigation and Policy for the NRAF. “With legislators openly admitting that they cannot come to an agreement on a map, and the candidate filing deadline quickly approaching on March 29, it is now time for the court to step in to produce a congressional map that complies with the fundamental principle of one person, one vote. Courts across the country have routinely engaged in this process in this cycle and previous ones, and it is their duty to protect voters’ rights where state legislatures fail to do so.”
According to the 2020 Census data, Missouri’s population has shifted significantly. Although Missouri will maintain the same number of congressional seats as the previous decade, the congressional districts must be updated to accurately reflect the population shifts as shown in the 2020 data. The current map was drawn based on the now outdated 2010 Census data, and is now malapportioned. Thus far in the 2021 redistricting cycle, where there has been political gridlock, state courts have stepped in to adopt congressional maps that accurately reflect population changes. Recent examples include Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Click here to read the full petition.
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