Missouri redistricting lawsuit goes to trial for third time
Alison Patton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Cole County judge is reviewing arguments in a redistricting lawsuit after Monday’s trial.
People Not Politicians argues Secretary of State Denny Hoskins failed to follow Missouri open records laws by not approving the referendum language.
The state argues that because the governor hadn’t signed the new congressional map into law during the initial submission of the language, he couldn’t approve it.
There’s a third party in this case, intervenor Put Missouri First that was added into the mix at the last trial.
Attorney for the group Marc Ellinger says his client’s campaign funding and advocacy are at stake in this lawsuit.
Ellinger also brought the state’s Director of Elections Chrissy Peters in for questioning.
Peters was able to clear up what happens if People Not Politicians submits signatures that the state believes to be invalid.
She said all signatures from before Oct. 14, when the referendum was approved for circulation, will be seperated and reviewed at a later time.
Peters couldn’t say what that review will look like.
When Hoskins approved the referendum, he said in a press release that any signatures collected before that could subject the group to a misdemeanor election offense.
Ellinger requested ballot signatures and additional information from People Not Politicians, which the group argues is irrelevant to this case, according to court documents. The judge sided with Ellinger.
People Not Politicians attorney Chuck Hatfield didn’t provide Ellinger with the signatures, claiming he and his client wouldn’t be able to collect them in time.
Ellinger asked the judge to push the trial again, but the judge said he would move it to trial and could make a decision later on if the signatures prove to be crucial.
People Not Politicians Executive Director Richard Hatfield said after the trial that he’s fighting back against people who want to suppress Missouri voices.
“We have one side arguing that every Missourian who signed a petition asking for their voices to be heard, and we’re saying should be heard,” von Glahn said. “We have one side using legalese or bureaucratic measures, or whatever they want to do to say ‘no, those voices don’t count.'”
The judge asked all parties to submit proposed rulings by Wednesday.
The case was supposed to be heard at the beginning of November but was postponed because the judge was ill. It was supposed to go to trial again two weeks later, but an intervenor stepped in and requested a new judge, which was granted.