Missouri ACLU Slams SecState Hoskins Over Redistricting Referendum Delay

Actually, we're sharing this note if only because we're curious how supporters would justify the departure from previous Republican leaders . . . Check the context from this recent presser . . . 

"Secretary of state Denny Hoskins confirmed his delay tactic as a means of bypassing Missouri voters and implementing the map by promising a ‘slow and steady’ review of the signatures and telling the Associated Press that he is “going to do everything [he] can to protect” HB1’s map. His position, if successful in court, presents a real possibility that an unlawful congressional map would be used in the 2026 midterms before voters have an opportunity to exercise their referendum right.

"The lower court’s order departs from over one hundred years of legal precedent dating back to the early 1900’s. Time and time again, courts 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."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Missouri Supreme Court to Hear Arguments to Suspend House Bill 1's Gerrymandered Maps - ACLU of Missouri