COLUMBIA — On the same day absentee voting opened in Missouri, Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon, a Democrat, advised people not to vote just yet, unless they have to.
"If you can wait until next week, that is the caution that I would give to voters," Lennon said Tuesday.
That's because the congressional district assignments are still up in the air in Boone County and much of the rest of the state as a court battle over Missouri's redistricting effort plays out.
Late Monday afternoon, a panel of judges for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of using the gerrymandered map that lawmakers passed in 2025. The 8th Circuit Court's decision upheld a federal district judge's decision. The court said that the only way for Missouri's November general election to comply with the U.S. Constitution is for the state to use the 2025 congressional district lines.
Those lines are gerrymandered to help Republicans flip the seat in the 5th Congressional District, which has been represented by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, since 2005.
Missouri's effort to gerrymander its congressional map & change the initiative petition processMissouri GOP leaders are pushing to gerrymander Missouri's congressional map and change how voter-approved measures become laws.
The federal appeals court decision conflicts with the Missouri Supreme Court's decision earlier this month that the 2025 map is not and has never been the law. County clerks like Lennon are left in a spot where it's still not ultimately clear which map to use for November.
The 8th Circuit Court judges delayed their ruling from taking effect for one week, so local election officials are currently proceeding with ballots using the same district lines Missouri used in the 2022 and 2024 elections, which favor Cleaver in the 5th District.
People Not Politicians, a political campaign committee that organized the referendum to force a popular vote on the map in November, is planning to file an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to block state officials from using the gerrymandered map for the November election. Despite the court rulings, the map is slated to appear as Proposition A on the November ballot.
Although some absentee voting is available, the congressional district voters live in could still change before the election. Lennon said about 40% of voters changed districts in Boone County when her office switched to using the old district lines. Missouri used the new district lines in the August primary election.
Since voters can only cast a ballot once, Lennon warned voters against casting ballots now if they don't have to.
"The risk is that your congressional district vote, specifically, may not count if something were to require us to go back to the 2025 maps," she said.
Nevertheless, excused-absentee voting is currently available both in-person in the Boone County clerk's office and by mail. Lennon said her office mailed over 1,000 excused-absentee ballots on Tuesday.
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U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, a Republican running for reelection in the 3rd Congressional District, is a plaintiff in the federal case in which judges ruled in favor of the 2025 map.
Judges ruled that it would be unconstitutional for Missouri to use a different map in the general election than was used in the primary. Because the state used the new, gerrymandered district lines in August, judges said that must be what the state uses in November.
"To disenfranchise 1.2 million voters, to say their votes on Aug. 4 don't count, it's an extremely activist and profoundly undemocratic action on the part of the Missouri Supreme Court," Onder said in an interview with KOMU 8 on Tuesday. "I'm glad the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals made it right. And, I'm hoping that will stick with the U.S. Supreme Court."
The Missouri congressional map is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court for the third time this month. After the Missouri Supreme Court initially ruled against using the 2025 districts, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway appealed that to the nation's high court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh struck down that appeal.
Then, after a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri initially ruled the opposite by issuing a restraining order that said Missouri cannot use any map other than the 2025 one, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay blocking that from taking effect.
People Not Politicians filed for an extension of the stay of the 8th Circuit Court's decision. If judges there do not approve that, the organization's director, Richard von Glahn, said it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, von Glahn said he is confident the nation's high court will again determine Missouri will use the old district lines in November.
"I frankly think it is shameful how much taxpayer dollars are being wasted by politicians who just can't accept the truth about what the Missouri Constitution guarantees Missourians and has for over a century," von Glahn said.
As litigation continues over which map to use, so does the election.
Despite Lennon's warning to voters about potentially nullifying their vote if they currently cast ballots with congressional races on them, Lennon said her office continues to follow all legal guidelines and is actively administering ballots for the midterms.
"We want people to feel at least good about the fact that voting is still taking place," she said. "We are still complying with all the things that we need to comply with. And, the election itself is still something that is happening."
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