Jefferson City – The ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court against the State of Missouri and Secretary of State for violating Missourians’ right to referendum by enacting the congressional maps in House Bill 1 before voters have the opportunity to approve or reject the measure as provided by the state constitution. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two Jackson County residents who are registered voters, seeks to suspend House Bill 1 and prevent state election authorities from using the new maps until the referendum process is complete.
“By attempting to enact the new maps despite receiving more than 305,000 signatures from Missouri voters demanding a referendum, the Secretary of State is denying a longstanding tradition, judicial precedent, and our constitutional rights,” said Tori Schafer, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri. “For more than a century, the courts have upheld Missourians’ constitutional right to referendum, and we ask the courts to do the same with House Bill 1.”
Court rulings dating back to the early 1900’s have found and upheld that “the mere lodging of a timely, legal, and sufficient referendum petition with the Secretary of State is all that” must be done to “halt” the “law affected”—“regardless of any affirmative act on the part of the Secretary of State or the Attorney General.”
Previous Secretaries of State and Attorneys General have agreed with the established precedent that referred legislation is suspended upon receipt of the referendum petition. In 2017, then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced that Missouri’s so-called right-to-work law was suspended after his office received more than 300,000 signatures, even though the office still needed to verify and issue a certificate.
On December 9th, the organization leading the referendum process, People Not Politicians, submitted more than 305,000 signatures, nearly three times the number required, of Missouri voters who wished to exercise their constitutional right to referendum. Ignoring the legislative power granted to the people, the Secretary of State publicly indicated that his office intends to use House Bill 1’s new congressional map in the 2026 primary and general elections.
The lawsuit requests that the court suspend House Bill 1 and prevent the Secretary of State and state election authorities from using the new congressional maps until voters approve or reject the legislation through the constitutional referendum process.
Read the full petition.