Brianna Lennon’s Map Flip-Flop: Three Things to Watch at the Missouri Supreme Court
The Missouri Supreme Court will hear three appeals on Wednesday in two disputes that could reshape Missouri’s November election.
Two appeals concern the attempt to force a referendum on the Missouri First congressional map. The third will determine whether the proposed Respect Missouri Voters amendment survives constitutional review and reaches the ballot.
The Court must rule before the September 8 deadline for court-ordered ballot changes. Here are three things to watch.
1. Brianna Lennon’s map flip-flop
Before the August primary, Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon warned the Missouri Supreme Court about the consequences of changing congressional maps during an election year.
In an April amicus brief, Lennon urged the Court to suspend the Missouri First Map. She warned that allowing the primary to proceed under the new districts could lead to “chaos, confusion, and unnecessary expense.”
Her brief also considered the exact situation now before the Court: The Missouri First Map remaining in effect through the primary, followed by a switch before the general election.
“In that circumstance, administering an election using legally valid districts will be complicated and costly,” Lennon wrote.
The Court rejected that argument. Missouri conducted the August 4 primary under the Missouri First Map. Voters selected party nominees in the districts established by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Lennon now describes switching maps before November very differently.
In a new amicus brief, Lennon and Polk County Clerk Rachel Lightfoot contend that election officials can use either map stored in Missouri’s voter registration system.
“You just pick which map you want us to use, and we are ready for you,” Lennon told the Missouri Independent.
Watch which of Lennon’s arguments the Justices choose to believe.
2. Will Missouri use two congressional maps in one election?
The map dispute now reaches beyond computer systems and administrative deadlines.
Missouri voters nominated congressional candidates under the Missouri First Map. Appellant People Not Politicians wants the Court to restore the districts used in 2022 and 2024 for the November general election.
That would place party nominees before a different group of voters than the electorate that selected them in August. Some Missourians would vote in one congressional district during the primary and another during the general election.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green upheld Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ decision to keep the referendum off the ballot. Green concluded that Missouri’s referendum power does not extend to congressional redistricting and that changing maps after the primary would be impossible to implement without disrupting the election.
People Not Politicians argues that the Missouri Constitution reserves to voters the power to approve or reject “any act” of the General Assembly. The state argues that congressional redistricting is specifically assigned to the Legislature and cannot be undone through the general referendum provision.
The justices will also hear a separate appeal involving approximately 103,000 signatures collected before Secretary of State Denny Hoskins approved the petition for circulation.
Watch whether the Court treats the August primary as a settled part of the election or permits Missouri to change districts between the nomination and election of congressional candidates.
3. Will Respect Missouri Voters survive constitutional review?
The Court will also decide whether the proposed Respect Missouri Voters amendment qualifies for the November ballot.
If approved by voters, the proposal would require support from 80 percent of both legislative chambers before lawmakers could refer changes to voter-approved initiatives back to the people. It would also restrict legislative changes to the initiative process and establish new requirements for ballot summaries.
Hoskins determined that the petition violated Missouri’s single-subject and single-article requirements. Judge Green agreed, finding that it made “sweeping reforms affecting multiple provisions of the Missouri Constitution” and would improperly restrict the ability of future lawmakers to submit questions to future voters.
Respect Missouri Voters argues that its provisions share one purpose: protecting Missouri’s initiative and referendum powers. The Supreme Court must decide whether that common theme is enough to satisfy the Constitution.
As we explained last week, Missouri law requires the secretary of state to review a submitted petition for compliance with the state Constitution. The proponents can challenge his decision in court, which is exactly what they’ve done.
The existence of constitutional review is settled. The question Wednesday is whether this amendment survives.
If the petition survives the Court’s review, it would appear as Amendment 6 in November.
The Court has until September 8 to decide which congressional map will govern the November election and whether Missouri voters will see Amendment 6 on their ballots.