Missouri Republicans Admit They Skewed Ballot Language to Protect a Rigged Map
Shawn GriffithsPeople Not Politicians submitted over 300,000 signatures to put a veto referendum on Missouri’s ballot that overturns a new congressional map designed to enhance the GOP’s advantage in the state.
However, state officials have pulled out all the stops to prevent it from getting on the ballot. This includes writing a ballot summary that makes it sound like the veto referendum is trying to protect gerrymandering -- not stop it.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins now admits the language comes “close enough to the line of being inherently argumentative and likely to create prejudice.”
This is a quote from Hoskin’s lawyer, Kathleen Hunker, who said this in court. She added that this “means we can do better, and so we are going to withdraw our opposition to the plaintiff’s claim about how the language is inherently argumentative.”
People Not Politicians (PNP), says this admission does not go far enough to meet the criteria for revising the language, which would be to admit that the language is insufficient and unfair.
PNP attorney Chuck Hatfield told Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe that if state officials cannot admit this, then there needs to be a trial. The case is scheduled for trial on February 9 if there is no agreement on ballot language.
Referendum Summary Claims State Has Ended a Gerrymander – Instead of Making It Worse
The ballot summary written by Hoskins claims HB 1, the mid-cycle congressional gerrymander passed by state lawmakers in September 2025:
“[R]epeals Missouri’s existing gerrymandered congressional plan that protects incumbent politicians, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more cities and counties intact, are more compact, and better reflect statewide voting patterns?”
The referendum asks if voters approve of this new bill – except this is not what HB 1 does.
The new congressional map under HB 1 carves up Kansas City to give Republicans a safe seat in 7 out of the state’s 8 House districts. This is 12.5% of the state’s congressional seats. While Missouri is a red state, L2 Data estimates that at least a third of voters identify as Democrats.
Currently, Democrats hold 2 seats (25%). Looking at election results, Democrat Kamala Harris took 40% of the vote in 2024, which is consistent with statewide Democratic performance over the last few election cycles.
So, across the board, HB 1 does not do what Hoskin’s ballot language asserts that it does.
Missouri Republicans are relying on a similar tactic used by California Democrats for Prop 50 in 2025, which implements a new congressional map that gives Democrats an advantage in 92% of the state’s districts. Democratic leaders claimed it protected democracy and advocated for independent redistricting.
This is an ongoing concern with nonpartisan reformers. The very people who write ballot measure titles and summaries are party loyalists who are incentivized to skew what voters see to protect the controlling party’s manipulation of elections.
A Critical Deadline Approaches to Freeze the New Map
PNP is not only challenging the ballot summary for the veto referendum. It is also challenging the state’s refusal to freeze the gerrymandered map under HB 1 now that signatures have been submitted as well as the secretary of state’s refusal to count a third the signatures gathered.
The secretary of state justified his refusal to count 100,000 signatures collected between September 15 and October 14, 2025, by citing a law that no longer exists. The law prohibited petitions from being gathered before a referendum was approved by the secretary of state.
The state Supreme Court ruled this law violated voters’ constitutional rights.
State officials also plan to move forward with the new map under HB 1, despite political and legal precedent that a law being challenged by veto referendum should be suspended the moment signatures are submitted.
A judge has delayed a ruling on whether the state must count all signatures gathered until the verification process is completed in the event there are still enough signatures to certify the veto referendum for the ballot.
The verification process generally takes 7-10 weeks, but election officials have until July to certify the referendum, and Hoskins has already said he will do everything in his power to protect the new map.
Court cases on the ballot summary and the suspension of HB 1 are scheduled, but congressional candidate filings open on February 24. After this date, state officials can argue that it is too late to suspend HB 1.
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