The U.S. Supreme Court decided Friday that Missouri will use the 2022 congressional district map for the November general election. But for four days, early voters across Missouri didn’t know if their ballot would count.
Absentee voting started September 22, while the maps were still in flux. And if the gerrymandered 2025 maps had remained in effect, those early votes would have been voided.
“The general sense that I get from voters when they come in the office, and last week as we were having to explain to them where we were in the process, they were just tired,” said Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon.
Before the ruling last week, her office explained the risk to each person who came in, because Missouri law prevents voters from casting a second ballot in the same election.
“There’s some lack of confidence in the overall health of our democracy,” Lennon said. “We do try our best to try to educate people and let them know that making their voice heard is still very important.”
In May, Lennon initially refused to update ballots with the 2025 map until Secretary of State Denny Hoskins decided whether there would be a referendum on the map. But because election officials around St. Louis and Kansas City decided to adopt the 2025 map despite unresolved legal troubles, Lennon prepared voter lists consistent with that map to prevent electoral chaos.
“I think the impact of the back and forth about the maps was more confusion and waiting than it was actual workload that we had to do,” Lennon said.
Lennon said absentee voting is typically quiet when it first opens, because there are few reasons why residents can request one. So, it’s uncertain how the map debacle has affected early voting numbers so far.
Now that the 2022 congressional district maps are soundly in effect, Lennon said roughly fifty thousand Boone County voters will now see different congressional candidates on their ballots than when they voted in the August primary.
The last day to request a mailed absentee ballot is October 21.
