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Conflicting court decisions have thrown a key midterm race into chaos. One ruling blocked and the other one allowed a new congressional map in Missouri that gives Republicans an edge in the close battle for the U.S. House. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum reports.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Missouri was one of the first states last year to redraw its congressional maps at the urging of President Trump. Republicans passed new lines aimed at ousting Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver by putting them in a much more GOP-leaning district. Opponents gathered more than 300,000 signatures to place the new map up for a statewide vote. Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled that the redistricting can't go into effect before then, meaning not this year. And it seemed like the opponents had won the final victory on Tuesday when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied an appeal from Republican state leaders.
But minutes later, a U.S. district judge out of St. Louis ruled in a separate case that Missouri has to use those new maps targeting Cleaver, noting they were already used in the primaries. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins says the St. Louis decision should prevail.
DENNY HOSKINS: We don't want to disenfranchise over a million voters that voted in the congressional primaries on the new maps.
ROSENBAUM: Redistricting opponents appealed last night, saying a district judge cannot void a state Supreme Court ruling on what they contend are basically the same issues. Local election officials, such as Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon, say they don't know what to do.
BRIANNA LENNON: We've got the Supreme Court of Missouri saying that we have to use them; otherwise, we'll be in violation of their order. And then we have the federal court saying that we can't use them; otherwise, we'll be in violation of the federal court.
ROSENBAUM: St. Charles County director of elections, Kurt Bahr, says his county near St. Louis will use the new 2025 maps for now, but the uncertainty creates logistical headaches.
KURT BAHR: If we print ballots and then the maps change, you know, we're going to have to print new ballots, and that's a cost. But there's also the bigger concern of, can we make sure that, you know, voters have access to those ballots for the totality of the six weeks of absentee voting?
ROSENBAUM: Officials worry that even if the courts clarify things in time, voters will still be confused about which candidates will be on their ballot.
For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum in St. Louis.
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