Missouri ordered again to use disputed midterm map

Court order keeps map in place

Missouri must again use its gerrymandered district map for the midterm elections under a renewed court order. The ruling determines which district boundaries election officials must follow while the legal dispute continues.

The order concerns the structure of the election rather than a particular candidate or campaign. District maps determine which voters are grouped together and which geographic area each elected representative serves. They can also affect which candidates compete against one another, but the map itself does not decide who wins an election.

Because Missouri has been ordered to use the map again, an earlier stage of the dispute also resulted in the map being put into effect. The latest order leaves those boundaries as the governing lines for the midterms unless a later court decision changes that result.

Supreme Court could have final say

The dispute is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court. Until then, Missouri election officials must prepare around the court order currently in effect.

A Supreme Court decision could settle whether the challenged map may be used. The key procedural question is whether the court takes up the dispute and issues a decision before the map must be used to administer the midterm elections.

For voters, the immediate effect is that the ordered map controls where district lines are drawn. Any later ruling that changes the map would also affect the boundaries election officials use for the midterms.