Missouri officials defy decades of precedent in bid to block gerrymandering referendum

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway at an event in St. Louis on Nov. 24 (photo courtesy of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office)

No one has ever accused Jay Ashcroft of being a lefty.

The former Republican secretary of state was a regular source of ire for Democrats during his eight years in office, whether it was how he crafted ballot summaries or his advocacy for things like book bans and voter ID.

But in 2017, when a coalition of labor unions delivered 300,000 signatures to put a right-to-work law on the statewide ballot, Ashcroft followed long-established precedent and suspended the law until voters could weigh in the next year.

It’s what happened in 1981, when James Kirkpatrick — Missouri’s longest-serving secretary of state and the namesake of the building that houses the office — put a new trucking law on hold after signatures were submitted for a referendum. A lawsuit demanding immediate implementation was dismissed.

Or go back to 1952, when the Missouri Supreme Court explicitly said the purpose of a referendum is to suspend or annul a law before it has gone into effect. Allowing a law to take effect and then later be suspended, the court warned, would invite instability and confusion.

For decades, the process has been clear: when citizens gather enough signatures for a referendum, the challenged law doesn’t take effect until voters get a say.

That’s why last week’s decision from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins came as a shock. On the advice of Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, he announced a gerrymandered congressional map would go into effect despite the submission of 305,000 signatures for a referendum.

Hanaway even bragged online: “The Missouri FIRST map is now the law.”

A lawsuit is all but certain, and the referendum itself keeps chugging along, with the secretary of state proceeding with signature verification. But the move is the latest example of a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” strategy to keep the map away from voters.

But to what end? Does the attorney general really believe she can upend the referendum?

It’s a question I posed to nearly two dozen GOP consultants, lawmakers and lobbyists over the last week, with the overwhelming consensus quickly landing on two motivations.

The first is that the political incentives for Republicans demand a public fight for the Trump-endorsed map, regardless of whether they truly believe they can win. For Hanaway especially — an appointed attorney general hailing from the pre-Trump era of GOP politics — loudly demonstrating loyalty is her best bet to avoid a 2028 primary challenge.

The second is strategic delay. By dragging out the fight as the election calendar tightens, they hope courts will become increasingly reluctant to intervene. Even if that gamble fails, forcing the referendum campaign to spend resources on litigation serves its own purpose.

Whatever the motivation, the effect is the same: subverting Missourians’ constitutional right to check legislative power.

Missouri’s referendum system exists to ensure lawmakers can’t insulate themselves from accountability. When 300,000 people sign their names to challenge a law, they aren’t offering a suggestion. They are exercising a constitutional veto belonging to the voters alone.

Republicans argue the referendum and initiative process has become increasingly influenced by out-of-state special interests. There is some truth to this claim, particularly when it comes to campaign funding. But that doesn’t justify weakening or dismantling a constitutional right that has served voters for generations.

Letting the map remain in effect while signatures await verification is not a conservative reading of the constitution. It is not tradition. And it’s certainly not respect for the rule of law.

It’s a power play — and a particularly revealing one.

As it turns out, it’s easier to fight for one’s principles than to live by them.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.