Group seeking to put Missouri's GOP-drawn congressional map before voters submits signatures

A Democratic-supported group in Missouri opposed to the state’s new congressional map drawn by Republicans is one step closer to potentially repealing it through a voter referendum

A Democratic-supported group in Missouri opposed to the state’s new congressional map drawn by Republicans is one step closer to potentially repealing it through a voter referendum.

The group, People Not Politicians, submitted more than 300,000 signatures Tuesday for a petition that seeks to block the new district lines from going into effect before next year's midterm elections. Missouri's Republican secretary of state will still need to certify the petition before it can appear on the ballot.

“This process is an important historic check on legislators’ power or power grabs,” People Not Politicians Executive Director Richard von Glahn said in an interview before his group submitted the signatures. “This is why this part of our democracy exists — for moments like this, for people to both exercise and protect their power as voters."

The development marks the latest wrinkle in the national redistricting fight, which was sparked by President Donald Trump in an effort to shore up the GOP's narrow House majority.

In September, Missouri's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a new congressional map that carved up one of two districts currently represented by a Democrat, that of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, in a way that likely turns it into a GOP-leaning seat.