Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins delivered 33,068 of 49,773 petition pages from People Not Politicians to local election officials and withheld pages he says contain only signatures dated before Oct. 14, the day he approved the petition form. Local officials will now verify which forwarded signatures belong to registered voters. The dispute surfaced in court, and the judge has said he will wait for verification results before deciding whether pre-Oct. 14 signatures are required. Critics say the new map, revised after encouragement from President Donald Trump, was designed to favor Republicans and dilute Black voting power.
Missouri Secretary Of State Withholds Nearly One-Third Of Petition Pages Seeking Referendum On New Congressional Map
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has forwarded 33,068 of 49,773 petition pages submitted by the political action committee People Not Politicians to local election authorities, withholding the remainder on the grounds that signatures collected before Oct. 14 — the date he approved the petition form — are not valid.
The petitions seek a statewide referendum to overturn a newly redrawn congressional map critics say was engineered to strengthen Republican prospects in the U.S. House and, by critics' account, dilutes the voting power of Black communities. The map was redrawn after encouragement from President Donald Trump and was passed by lawmakers on Sept. 12; People Not Politicians began circulating petitions afterward.
What Was Withheld and Why
Hoskins' office delivered pages that contained at least one signature dated Oct. 14 or later; pages without any Oct. 14-or-later signatures were not forwarded. According to court exhibits referenced by the Missouri Independent, local election officials will now verify which forwarded signatures belong to registered voters.
State Sen. Denny Hoskins on Feb. 21, 2024, in Jefferson City, MO.(Nick Wagner / The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Legal Fallout
The dispute over the withheld pages emerged in related court filings. The judge overseeing the matter has said he will delay issuing a ruling on the signatures "until the verification process shows whether the referendum petition can succeed without signatures collected before Oct. 14."
State Republican officials have also taken other steps that critics say aim to block the referendum, including an investigation launched by the Missouri attorney general into unsubstantiated allegations about a group involved in gathering signatures.
Context and Reactions
Hoskins told The Associated Press he intends to do "everything I can to protect" the new map. Supporters of the petition argue that withholding thousands of pages will unfairly limit voters' ability to challenge the map at the ballot box. The verification process by local election authorities and subsequent court decisions will determine whether the petition can proceed.
Key detail: 33,068 pages were forwarded to local authorities out of 49,773 collected; the withheld pages consist of those with no signatures dated Oct. 14 or later, according to the secretary of state's filings.
The legal and administrative review is ongoing. A judge's ruling and the results of signature verification will be pivotal to whether Missouri voters get a chance to weigh in on the new congressional map.
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