Missouri House redistricting commission receives input in Cape Girardeau

The 20-member panel charged with redrawing the map for Missouri House legislative districts following the results of the 2020 U.S. Census held a public hearing in Cape Girardeau on Monday to hear witness testimony.

The hearing in Cape Girardeau was the fifth of six such gatherings scheduled statewide.

The last hearing is set for today in Kirksville. Previous hearings were held in Springfield, Kansas City, St. Louis and Jefferson City.

A separate commission is charged with redrawing the state Senate legislative map.

It is unknown at this time whether the Senate redistricting panel will hold a hearing in Southeast Missouri.

The House and Senate commissions, appointed in July by Gov. Mike Parson, have until Dec. 23 to submit a tentative plan to redraw the 163 districts for the Missouri House and the 34 districts for the Missouri Senate.

Both commissions are to finalize their work by Jan. 23 in time for the new legislative maps to be utilized for 2022 elections.

The job of reshaping districts was originally supposed to be the task of a nonpartisan state demographer but in November, Missourians approved Amendment 3 by a 51% to 49% margin, turning the task over to appointed commissioners from both major political parties.

Cape hearing

Most of the 20-member House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission were not physically in attendance for Monday's session at Drury Plaza Hotel but joined the hearing via Zoom.

Commissioner Michael Moroni of Advance, an attorney in private practice in Bloomfield, the Stoddard County seat, is Southeast Missouri's lone commission representative and was at the Drury to listen to input.

Andy Leighton of Cape Girardeau gives testimony to the House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission hearing held Monday at Drury Plaza Hotel in Cape Girardeau.Jeff Long

• Andy Leighton of Cape Girardeau asked the commission for fairness in its work.

"You must put an end to artificial supermajorities in the General Assembly," said Leighton, who was the 2020 Democratic candidate in House District 147, won by Republican Wayne Wallingford.

"We need maps that create debate rather than stifle it," he added, noting Wallingford did not debate him during last year's race.

When asked by Moroni whether the City of Cape Girardeau should have its own legislative district while Cape Girardeau County occupied a separate district, Leighton called the idea "convenient" but offered another idea.

"Half the City of Cape could be in one district and the other half could be in another," he said, adding his notion would create more diversity within both districts.

Jim W. Martin of Perry County offers testimony before the House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission hearing held Monday at Drury Plaza Hotel in Cape Girardeau.Jeff Long

• Jim W. Martin of Perry County asked the commission to be apolitical and to do all it could to keep House districts within county borders, suggesting District 145 might be reshaped into encompassing two counties — Perry and Ste. Genevieve. Martin resides in the district, represented by Republican Rick Francis, which is currently made up of part of Perry and all of Bollinger and Madison counties.

"We need to get gerrymandering out of our system," added Martin, a retired teacher.

• Roy Guenther said his reading of the 2020 Census reveals his home county of Scott has enough population to have its own House legislator. At present, District 148 is made up of Scott and Mississippi counties and is represented by Jamie Burger.

"It would not be fair to redraw it this way, though," said Guenther, a retired electrician, noting two current House districts — 143 and 144 — are already very large geographically.

"Candidates are going to wear out their cars getting around these (big) districts."

Guenther concluded his remarks by acknowledging the commission's task.

"You have a monumental decision to make on the size of these districts and how they're to be laid out."

Opposing ideas

Missouri's League of Women Voters spokeswoman Evelyn Maddox told an October commission hearing the League is opposed to a redrawing philosophy prioritizing citizens of voting age.

"Families with children and people of color would lose the most if Missouri were to switch to the Citizen Voting Age Population criteria for drawing districts. According to the 2020 Census, we have nearly 1.5 million residents aged 17 and under, which is at least 22% of (the state's) population. These Missourians would lose representation in the General Assembly," said Maddox, urging the House commission to draw districts based on total population.

The gubernatorial commissions are not tasked with redrawing Missouri's eight congressional districts. This job belongs to the state legislature.

Missouri, with 6.15 million residents, will retain its eight representatives in the U.S. House but Matt Hesser, Missouri's state demographer, told Parson's office the 30-county District 8 — represented since 2013 by Jason Smith — will need an additional 50,000 people to balance the state. Hesser said population losses in southern Missouri since 2010 necessitate a new boundary.