St. Louis Public Radio

Missouri’s election officials are planning to use new congressional lines for the August 4 primaries.

After the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the submission of referendum signatures did not automatically suspend the new map, some election officials held off on implementing the new lines. They pointed to language in the high court’s decision stating it was “impossible to say” if the map was suspended, since Secretary of State Denny Hoskins hadn’t made a decision on whether it qualified for the November ballot.

But county clerks and election officials across the state decided to use the new map, primarily to make sure there was consistency when Missourians cast their votes in Democratic, Republican and Libertarian primaries.

Still, election officials are very concerned about what happens after Aug 4. If either Hoskins or courts put the redistricting referendum on the November ballot, the Supreme Court decision states that the map was suspended as of last December.

While it’s unknown what courts would decide under that scenario, some election officials are bracing for the possibility that they’ll have to conduct redo congressional primaries throughout most of the state.

“I’ve heard different scenarios that could play out hypothetically,” said Miller County Clerk Clinton Jenkins. “But I don’t want to deal in hypotheticals. We all want to know what’s our next step. What do we do?”

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Cover photo: brianmunoz