Missouri’s top election official, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, has rejected a citizens’ petition seeking a statewide referendum on the state’s new congressional redistricting plan, which is backed by former President Donald Trump. Supporters of the referendum submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures aiming to force a November vote on whether to adopt the new US House map approved by the Republican-led state legislature.

Hoskins declared the petition void, stating that congressional redistricting plans cannot be subject to voter referendums under Missouri law. He emphasized that the number of petition signatures was irrelevant because “challenging a congressional map is unconstitutional under Missouri law.” When candidates filed for office in February, Hoskins said they did so under the new districts and told the Associated Press that “the referendum process was never meant to be used for redistricting.”

A group supporting the referendum said it would contest Hoskins’ decision in court. Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, criticized Hoskins’ move as “a last desperate attempt to silence the people’s voice in Missouri,” while asserting there were sufficient signatures to qualify the referendum for the ballot.

Bob Johnson, a coalition member and former Republican state senator, condemned the decision as a “brazen disregard for the will of the people” and said it motivated Missourians to gather signatures because they are “sick of these games in Jefferson City.”

Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to redraw congressional districts following Trump’s call last year to reshape maps in favor of the GOP to maintain its slim House majority in the midterms. Additional states are also considering redistricting before the 2028 elections.

Sources