Boone County election officials are prepared for November despite recent legal back and forth over congressional maps
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone County Election officials will move forward with creating ballots for the November election that align with Missouri's 2022 congressional map rather than the 2025 "Missouri First" map.
This comes amid litigation and rulings by the Missouri and U.S. Supreme court over which map will be active when voters cast their ballot.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said her office is going based off of the Missouri Supreme Court's directive that the "Missouri First" map is not law. On Thursday, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins ordered the use of a 2022 congressional map for the November election in an effort to "purge" himself of contempt.
Missouri voters cast ballots in the August primary based on the 2025 map, which is also now up for a vote in November.
The 2025 map breaks up the safely Democratic Fifth District of Kansas City into several other districts, which critics and experts claimed would have given Republicans a 7-1 advantage in U.S. House seats in Missouri.
However, federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Missouri secretary of state to use a 2025 congressional map, just days after the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling. Federal Eastern District of Missouri Judge Stephen Clark said in that ruling that switching maps before the general election would cancel primary votes.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals turned it down then turned down an appeal to their decision made by People Not Politicians', the group leading opposition to the 2025 Map. PNP then submitted an appeal of that decision to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
A briefing in that case is set for Sept. 17, just two days before ballots are sent out for military and overseas voters. Lennon said her office will be watching closely for a decision in that case, but until a clear order is made her office is has its hands tied.
"There won't be anything that we can really do other than just be very aware that things could change," Lennon said. "If they do, we will need to update our ballots and get them ready to go."
If a change is ordered and the 2025 map is put back into effect for the November election, Lennon said her office is prepared.
"Is certainly something that has happened in the past in Missouri," Lennon said. "We do have printers in-house that we can print those ballots on and our absentee voting is printed on demand."
A new ballot for military and overseas voters would also require additional voter education, according to Lennon.
"We would let the voters know that something has been updated on their ballot and they would need to ignore the previous one that was sent," Lennon said.
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Lennon said a final decision around which map is in place doesn't mean the end of ongoing litigation and legal confusion.
"We just held a primary on new maps and if the referendum goes forward, then those new maps no longer exist at all," Lennon said. "I think that those are all open legal questions that after the election, there will still be court cases about. I guess the the final date for all of that will be when Congress decides to seat whoever is deemed the winners of the congressional districts."
Overseas and military ballots are due to the Boone County Clerk's office by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the election.
