JEFFERSON CITY — Top Republican Party officials in Missouri filed a lawsuit Thursday calling on the courts to end the political gridlock over the state’s unfinished congressional maps.
The nine-page petition asks for a judge to intervene in a fight that has tied the Legislature in knots since January over the once-per-decade redrawing of political boundaries based on population.
Without a new map, the lawsuit says Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft should not be allowed to run the upcoming election using the 2011 congressional district boundaries because of differences in population.
When districts don’t have equal populations, votes cast from districts with fewer people carry more weight than those from heavily populated districts, the lawsuit noted.
People are also reading…
“Any future use of Missouri’s 2011 congressional district plan would violate the Plaintiff’s constitutional right to cast an equal, undiluted vote,†the lawsuit notes.
“If the State cannot or will not enact a new congressional plan and map, then this Court should adopt its own congressional plan and map or create a new filing period for such districts so as to ensure candidates can file in the proper congressional districts in advance of the August 2, 2022 primary election,†the lawsuit says.
In addition to implementing a map that complies with the constitution, the lawsuit asks a judge to order Ashcroft to open the candidate filing period for congressional districts for two weeks after a new map is approved.
The suit, filed by Republican Party treasurer Pat Thomas, party secretary Derrick Good and Curtis Jared, who is on the state party committee, is among at least three that have been filed in recent weeks seeking to get a new map in place.
The legal action was filed just minutes after the House and Senate again failed to agree on a way to divide the state’s eight congressional districts.
On Thursday, the House dumped a map approved by the Senate after weeks of negotiations and a virtual shutdown of much of the Senate’s business since the beginning of the legislative session three months ago.
The House had sought to engage the Senate in further negotiations over the boundaries, but the upper chamber refused, saying the map they created was the best one they could muster.
House members decried the Senate version, saying the 2nd Congressional District unfairly stretches from St. Louis County to Iron County.
Rep. , R-Ashland, who is running for Congress in the 4th Congressional District, raised concerns about a split through Boone County under the map.
And Rep. , R-Ballwin, called the Senate map “hideous†in an interview after the House vote on Thursday.
Like the House map, the Senate map would likely deliver six districts for Republicans and two districts for Democrats.
Lawmakers from St. Charles County had pushed for major changes to how their home county was split under the scheme. The map that ultimately cleared the Senate places four-fifths of the county’s residents in the 3rd District.
Along with the latest lawsuit, attorneys representing five voters from overpopulated districts filed legal action in mid-March asking a court to intervene in the process and draw new U.S. House maps that can be used in this year’s August primary and November general elections.
A third lawsuit was filed earlier by Paul Berry III, a Republican congressional candidate from suburban St. Louis.
