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With the midterm elections on the horizon, a Missouri court held a hearing in a lawsuit that could determine whether a gerrymandered congressional map favoring the Republican Party will be in effect for the 2026 race.
In a case that could have profound nationwide consequences for elections, the state of Missouri has sued the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce to block the federal government from including undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders in the country’s once-a-decade census count.
When opponents of Missouri’s new, GOP-backed congressional map began gathering signatures to advance a ballot measure to veto the map, they faced an onslaught of opposition from Republicans.
An attorney representing Missouri’s top election official admitted in court Friday that her client had authored ballot language that could “prejudice” voters about a referendum to block the GOP’s new gerrymandered congressional map.
State officials have sorted through more than 300,000 signatures gathered to block Republicans’ new Missouri congressional map, as the fate of the GOP gerrymander remains in legal limbo. The officials rejected one-third of signatures as invalid based on the date they were collected – a decision that referendum organizers are challenging in court.
Missourians filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a court to stop the state from using its new congressional map until voters have the chance to approve or reject the measure in a referendum.
When Republicans in Missouri claimed last week that a gerrymandered congressional map was already in effect, they dealt a major blow to voters who want the final word in the state’s redistricting battle. But pro-voter organizers say there’s still a path forward for voters to block the map — and they’re ready to keep fighting.
This week, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) broke new ground in its dangerous campaign to take control of elections and promote baseless conspiracy theories about voting. And we tracked them every step of the way.
Missouri voting advocates remain locked in a high-stakes showdown with Republican state officials who aim to slip the gerrymander through by weaponizing the administrative process and running down the clock to the 2026 election.
More than 300,000 Missourians have signed a petition demanding that the gerrymander be put to a statewide referendum, advocacy organization People Not Politicians announced as it delivered those signatures to the state government Tuesday.