House districts challenged

Hundreds of Missourians planning to run for the state House of Representatives in November may have to put their plans on hold after the latest version of the house redistricting map was challenged in the Missouri Supreme Court Monday.

“It puts everything in limbo from the sense that you don’t know what district you will be running in,” 150th District Rep. Jason Smith said.

Smith plans to run for another term in the House, but like his colleagues and others planning to run for a seat in the house, he is now surrounded by uncertainty.

“The big question now is, ‘will they file?’” Phelps County Clerk Carol Bennett said. “Will representatives have a different filing time than everyone else in the state?”

Bennett’s office spent more than $8,000 in November mailing new voter registration cards, and now she fears those cards will become invalid and the election process will become more complicated.

Her fear stems from a writ filed by a handful of Missourians across the state with the Missouri Supreme Court on Monday.

The writ challenges the new map’s constitutionality, primarily claiming the populations of the 163 districts could have been spread more evenly and in a more compact manner.

“Perfect precision is not required, but the new House map falls far short of what is ‘possible,’” the writ, written by attorney Paul C. Wilson, of Columbia, says.

Smith agrees the districts could have been drawn in a more compact way, especially in Phelps County.

“When you look at a county like Phelps County that has a population of 45,000 people and it has four different districts, that, I think, is an injustice,” Smith said.

According to the writ, if the House districts were divided evenly, each district would contain 36,742 constituents.

Wilson writes that 25 percent of the districts miss that mark by at least 1,100 people, and 41 percent of the districts miss the mark by at least 735 people.

Phelps County was divided into four districts under the map in question, and one of those districts falls within the 41 percent Wilson wrote about.
The area north of Rolla falls into the 62nd District, which contains 938 people less than the target population for districts.

Additionally, the writ says that six districts have been cut by a major river, four by the Missouri River and two by the Meramec River, with no bridge within the district crossing the waterway.

In one example, a representative would have to travel through four other districts to visit voters on both sides of the river.

While the writ lists over a dozen Missourians who would like to see the map ruled unconstitutional, 149th District Rep. Dr. Keith Frederick is not one of them.

“I think changing to another map now would just confuse things even more,” Frederick said.

While Frederick says he hopes the courts will uphold the map so election filings can begin and the election cycle can run smoothly, he understands that many representatives may be happy to see the new map thrown out.

“I do know some colleagues who were looking at uprooting and moving to a new district, and that is pretty disruptive to a family,” he said.

That may have included Smith, who currently represents far eastern Phelps County, western Crawford County and northern Dent County. He resides just south of the Dent County line.

The new 120th district does not encompass Smith’s home but — because it covers his current district — he is allowed to run for re-election for one cycle without moving.

Smith has not made a decision about which district he will run in seeking re-election. He expects the uncertainty surrounding the districts to play a hand throughout the election cycle, regardless of the outcome.

“Just the fact that people do not know where their districts are, it means that they don’t have as much time to get to know their people,” he said.

This includes candidates like Jim Skaggs of Crocker who recently announced his plan to run against Frederick for a seat in the 121st District.

“Hopefully we will stay right where we are at because I think it is a wonderful district,” Skaggs said. “I think that by combining these two counties, Phelps County and Pulaski County, into one district it will have a positive impact on the state of Missouri.”

Skaggs is a retired teacher who taught industrial technology at Waynesville Schools and recently decided to go into politics as a way of giving back during retirement.

“It sounds like politics as usual, but we will just have to wait and see,” he said about the challenge to the map.

According to Smith, however, it is not politics as usual.

“We are in uncharted territory,” Smith said. “To my knowledge this has never happened before.”

The court issued an order Monday requiring Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to respond to the writ today.

If the court sides with Wilson’s clients, an exception to the filing dates for candidates will be made, and the governor will appoint another reapportionment committee.

Filing for the Missouri House of Representatives begins Feb. 28.