The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a congressional map that would have given Republicans an edge in the midterm election.
The case centered around a map approved by Missouri lawmakers in 2025. This map made changes to the Kansas City-area 5th Congressional District represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
This means Missouri officials must now use maps passed in 2022.
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“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the Supreme Court ruling.
This is the third time the Supreme Court has ruled on the matter.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Secretary of State didn’t respond to Straight Arrow’s request for comment. Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, called Kavanaugh’s decision “disappointing” in a Friday night statement.
“Voters deserved consistency and certainty, and not for the rules to be changed between elections,” he said. “Nevertheless, Missouri will follow the Court’s order.”
The group behind the U.S. Supreme Court appeal, People Not Politicians, celebrated Kavanaugh’s order in a Friday release. With his order, the group said Missouri residents can now vote on the contested map in the November General Election.
However, Kavanaugh’s ruling created a niche situation in Missouri: Residents will vote for politicians they likely did not have a choice for in the primary. Shawn Donahue, University at Buffalo assistant professor of politics, previously told Straight Arrow that the question persists over who will be on the ballot due to the dispute.
No other state will deal with this type of a crunch, Donahue added, as both Rhode Island and Delaware had the last remaining primaries with uncontested maps. Louisiana will have an open primary in November for the U.S. House of Representatives, then a general election on Dec. 12 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state’s map unconstitutional in April.
Ballots mailed based on old map
According to the Missouri Secretary of State Office, voting began for military and overseas residents on Sept. 18. Absentee voting began on Tuesday.
All ballots were sent based on the 2022 map after the Missouri Supreme Court barred Secretary of State Denny Hoskins from using the Republican-passed map. In the ruling, the judges wrote that the map was nullified since voters haven’t decided on it, so it’s “not the law and has never been the law.”
Hoskins faced criticism for running out the clock on a citizen-initiated ballot question that would have asked residents to either adopt or reject the maps. People Not Politicians said in a March release they had enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. However, Hoskins didn’t issue his certification ruling until Aug. 4, the same day he’s required to rule on ballot initiatives, local NBC affiliate KOMU reported.
The election official rejected the certification for being “insufficient” and “unconstitutional.” The group delivered signatures to Hoskins in December.
“The Missouri Constitution cannot be interpreted to strip the General Assembly of its authority over redistricting,” Hoskins said.
Straight Arrow News digital producer Cassandra Buchman contributed to this story.
