Missouri lawmakers have passed a resolution that will allow voters the chance to overturn a change to the constitution that will directly affect how redistricting happens in the state next year.
The amendment puts to the voters a plan to abolish the appointment of a non-partisan demographer and alter the criteria for drawing up maps.
Supporters of the resolution believe it gives voters a way to right a wrong decision made in 2018.
Bohl
Opponents charge that it is a transparent attempt to overturn the will of the people, 62 percent of whom voted in favor of the 2018 amendment change, and make the process even more secretive and partisan than previously.
The House approved the amendment in a vote of 98-56 Wednesday. The Senate previously approved the resolution in a vote of 22-9.
The measure eliminates a key element of the 2018 amendment, the appointment of a non-partisan demographer to oversee the initial stages of the redistricting process, which begins following the completion of 2020 census.
Under the measure, the governor will appoint a bi-partisan commission to oversee the process, similar to the position in 2011.
Sean Soendker Nicholson, who headed the Clean Missouri campaign that spearheaded the successful ballot measure vote in 2018, said the vote for "fair redistricting" was passed in an "overwhelming manner."
"Even before election day in 2018, a good chunk were terrified of fair process and this is their attempt to undo that," Nicholson previously told the St. Louis Record.
The proposed amendment alters the criteria used to draw district maps, including making them "as contiguous and compact as possible" and keeping communities together as much as possible, Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Cosby), a sponsor of the measure, said in a statement following the Senate vote. It also makes minor changes to contributions and gifts from lobbyists.
Eric Bohl, of the Missouri Farm Bureau, supports the amendment, arguing that rural communities are worried that their districts will be broken up and that they will lose their voice in the legislature.