A Cole County judge rewrote the ballot language for a measure aimed at repealing new redistricting reforms that were passed by voters in 2018, and called various aspects of the original wording “misleading,” "objectively untrue,” “literally false” and a “deception,” among other strongly worded terms.
Senate Joint Resolution 38, passed out of the House in May. It rescinds an overhaul of Missouri’s state house redistricting process that voters overwhelmingly ratified in 2018 as Amendment 1, also known as Clean Missouri. SJR 38 will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as Amendment 3.
Traditionally, the Secretary of State writes ballot language for measures sent to voters, however, SJR 38’s sponsor, state Sen Dan Hegeman, exercised his prerogative under state law to include his own ballot language in the legislation.
Hegeman’s language makes no mention of repealing the new redistricting process created by Clean Missouri, an omission Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce said obscures SJR 38’s main goal - to repeal the voter approved Amendment 1.
“The summary statement must alert voters to that change in some fashion,” wrote Judge Joyce.
“Instead, the General Assembly’s statement does not mention the change at all. It is insufficient, unfair and must be rewritten.”
In addition to omitting the central purpose of Amendment 3, Joyce said the Republican ballot language also makes false, misleading or overstated claims about other aspects of the proposal. “This sort of deception is the exact evil the summary statement is meant to combat, not promote,” Joyce wrote.
The new redistricting system is slated to be used for the first time during next year’s redistricting cycle. If SJR 38 gets approved, it will also change the way Missouri residents are counted for the purposes of drawing legislative district lines by omitting all residents who are not eligible to vote.
This could result in dramatic differences in the geographic sizes of otherwise comparable districts by not including children and adolescents or people who are here for work or school purposes, but not eligible to vote.
Joyce’s rewritten ballot language focuses on the proposed repeal of the new redistricting system, while more accurately describing minor changes Amendment 3 would make regarding restrictions on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and contribution limits to Senate candidates.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, is appealing Joyce’s decision on behalf of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, also a Republican, and Republican legislative leaders.
A three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District is scheduled to hear the case, Barbara Pippens, et al., v. John R. Ashcroft, et al., https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/ and search for the case here is the case by name.
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