Missouri

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In 2018, we supported the passage of Amendment 1, a redistricting reform measure that will establish a non-partisan process for drawing state legislative districts.

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Redistricting in Missouri

The following timeline is a high-level overview outlining major redistricting events and activity in the state of Missouri over the last 10 years.

Congressional Timeline

2011

Census data delivered to Missouri.

Republicans in the state legislature gerrymandered the congressional map after Missouri lost one seat in reapportionment, the process of redistributing Congressional seats after each decennial census.

Democratic Governor Jay Nixon vetoed the gerrymandered map.

The legislature overrode the governor’s veto to put the maps in place.

State Legislature Timeline

The following timeline is a high-level overview outlining major redistricting events and activity in the state of Missouri over the last 10 years.

2011

Census data delivered to Missouri.

Bipartisan commissions met to draw the state legislative lines.

The commissions failed to reach an agreement.

Missouri Supreme Court appointed a new nonpartisan commission, which produced a new state map.

2012

Litigation invalidated the 2011 map for the state Senate.

A new bipartisan commission met and redrew the state Senate map.

2018

Missouri voters passed Amendment 1, a redistricting reform measure that will establish a non-partisan process for drawing state legislative districts.

1 Know the Decision Makers

Each state is different when it comes to the redistricting process. Knowing who they are and when to vote for them is the key to creating a fairer redistricting process. Both the congressional and state legislative lines in Missouri are drawn by:

  • Governor
  • State Senate
  • State House

State legislative districts are drawn by a state demographer who is appointed by the state auditor, state Senate majority leader, and state Senate minority leader. The state demographer files the proposed map with the existing commissions, which are allowed to amend the demographer’s map via a 70 percent vote of the commissioners, provided that amendments meets new redistricting criteria. If the commissions made no changes or could not approve changes to the demographer’s map, then the demographer’s map is enacted. The state demographer and commissions must consider specific criteria, including what the initiative calls partisan fairness and competitiveness, contiguousness, compactness, and the boundaries of political subdivisions.

2 Know Your State Legislature

Missouri Lower Chamber
47

Democratic-held
seats

116

Republican-held
seats

4 Vacant seats

Missouri Upper Chamber
10

Democratic-held
seats

24

Republican-held
seats

1 Vacant seats

3 Register to Vote

Register to vote in Missouri

You can also confirm that you are already registered to vote.

Get Involved in Missouri Today

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