Kansas city voters map error

By Kacen Bayless
The Kansas City Star

(The Kansas City Star) — After Missouri Republican lawmakers rushed to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts last week, critics argue the new map includes a crucial error that places more than 870 Kansas City residents in two districts.

The legislation, as written, assigns one Kansas City voting precinct to two separate congressional districts and two representatives in Congress, according to allegations contained in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Missouri and the Campaign Legal Center.

Under the map, the roughly 875 residents living in Kansas City VTD 811, a voting precinct just south of Holmes Park and Rose Hill Cemetery, would be simultaneously placed in both the 4th and 5th Congressional Districts, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit frames the error as a result of a “slapdash” legislative process in which Kehoe and lawmakers did not properly vet the map. Congressional redistricting typically takes months, but legislators approved the map with no changes during a two-week special session under pressure from the Trump administration.

“The map was pushed through in such a slapdash and rushed manner that the bill text double assigns one Kansas City precinct to two different congressional districts, creating a map that is malapportioned and/or noncontiguous,” according to the lawsuit, which says the map could allow those voters to vote in two districts.

But Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office is pushing back. A spokesperson for Kehoe, who has not yet signed the bill into law, said in an email to The Star: “There is no error with the map.”

The spokesperson, Gabby Picard, said there are two distinct precincts in Kansas City with the same name. The map “properly placed” one VTD 811 in the 4th District and the other in the 5th District, she said.

“There are two separate and distinct VTD 811s in Kansas City,” Picard said. “It is likely that the same name was assigned to two different VTDs by the US Census Bureau. Any suggestion that someone could vote in two congressional districts is false.”

Picard said Kehoe’s office does not typically comment on pending litigation, but the discussion surrounding the alleged error “is so inaccurate, we have chosen to do so.”

The directors of the Jackson County Election Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the precinct names.

Kehoe’s argument echoes comments from Adam Kincaid, the president of the National Republican Redistricting Trust. Kincaid wrote in a series of social media posts over the weekend that the matter was “functionally a non-issue.”

In response to the pushback against the lawsuit’s allegations, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Missouri emphasized a lack of transparency from Kehoe’s office during the redistricting process.

Tom Bastian, the organization’s spokesperson, said in a statement that Kehoe “worked in the shadows with people in D.C. to remove representation from Kansas City.”

Bastian pointed to the fact that when Kehoe unveiled the proposed map, he appeared in a video with a PDF copy of the map and did not provide the public with a detailed electronic file.

“Without robust debate and in just a week and half, the Legislature passed new maps without any changes, just as ordered by the president,” Bastian said. “Both the Governor and Legislature failed to address oversights that previous mapmakers did, highlighting their careless approach to representation in our state. We will see you in court.”

One prominent Missouri lawyer who filed a separate lawsuit against the map raised questions about Kehoe’s explanation for the alleged error.

Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City-based attorney heavily involved in government issues, said that Kehoe and Republican lawmakers should have been more specific in the legislation if there are two precincts with the same name.

“Let’s just assume that that’s right, there are two different geographic areas of Jackson County that are called KC 811,” said Hatfield, who previously worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. “How do we tell which one is which?”

Lawmakers weigh in

One Republican lawmaker who voted in favor of the map told The Star that he had seen discussions about the potential error online. But he said he did not know enough about it to render an opinion.

“While I have heard through social media there may be some inconsistencies with the map, I have no direct knowledge of that,” said Rep. Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican.

Opponents have railed against the issue over the past several days, framing it as a byproduct of Republicans hastily passing a map without enough information. Some have pointed to the fact that President Donald Trump, on two occasions, urged Republicans to pass the map “AS IS.”

“It demonstrates how rushed this whole process was,” said Rep. Eric Woods, a Kansas City Democrat. “And that a real lack of care and attention was given here.”

Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat, went a step further with his criticism of the process.

“If this map contains the errors being discussed, every Republican who blindly followed orders is getting exactly what they deserve,” Beck said in a statement to The Star. “When you bow down and lick the boot, you shouldn’t be surprised that it tastes like embarrassment.”