By The Editorial Board

Copyright stltoday

The Editorial Board

There was something sadly fitting about the fact that Missouri Senate Republicans on Friday shut down legislative debate in order to ram through two momentous measures designed to deprive our state’s citizens of full and fair political representation.

So determined were party leaders to re-gerrymander congressional districts in an unheard-of mid-decade stunt — and, separately, to make it virtually impossible for citizens to change the state constitution — that they punished one of their own, state Sen. Lincoln Hough, for daring to merely call for floor debate on the issues.

“It seems that if you have any independent thought, or even just raise a question, you have a problem with this Republican Party,” the Springfield Republican told the Missouri Independent after being removed from a powerful committee chairmanship as punishment for demanding debate. “This is a dark day in the Missouri Senate.”

With both these frontal assaults on democracy now having passed the Legislature, rays of light are still visible from two sources. Multiple opponents say they are headed to court to challenge the measures on various grounds; they should explore every legal avenue to stop these shameless schemes.

And at least one of the measures, and possibly (hopefully) both, still must get past the state’s voters. It could well be those voters’ last chance to rein in Missouri’s out-of-control Republican political leaders in fair votes.

President Donald Trump has called on Republican-controlled states to snatch U.S. House seats away from Democrats in next year’s midterms by gerrymandering this year.

Gerrymandering — drawing congressional district lines designed to ensure that one party or the other will dominate in a given district — is unfortunately common practice by both parties during the regular redistricting that happens every 10 years upon receiving new census figures. But to do it mid-decade, with no new census figures and for no reason but the bluntly partisan demands of a president, is unprecedented.

Texas’ ruling Republicans last month complied with Trump’s corrupt orders, and now the Missouri Legislature’s GOP supermajority has as well. Acting in a special session called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe for that purpose, lawmakers approved a map designed to unseat U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, and tilt the state’s current 6-2 Republican-Democratic House delegation to 7-1.

Though Missouri clearly is a red state, Democratic candidates consistently score around 40% of votes statewide. That proportion would generally be expected to yield a 5-3 advantage for Republicans in terms of House seats — not the 6-2 majority Republicans currently enjoy thanks to previous gerrymandering and certainly not 7-1. All the GOP drivel about “Missouri values“ aside, legislative Republicans have engaged in this outrageous theft of fair representation for exactly one reason: Trump demanded it.

Normally, the new map would only need Kehoe’s signature to go into effect. However, an organization called “People Not Politicians” has announced a petition effort to put the fraudulent map up for a statewide vote. Once the group gets petition approval, it must gather 100,000 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot and challenge the map.

Should they succeed and get it passed, it would be a wonderful testament to the power of democracy in stopping a brazenly anti-democracy plot.

The Legislature last week also gave final approval to another anti-democracy plot: a constitutional amendment referendum that would make it harder for citizen-led constitutional amendments to pass in the future.

Currently, a proposed constitutional amendment can be put on the ballot in several ways, including a citizen-led initiative that gathers signatures or a vote of the Legislature. Either way it gets on the ballot, the measure then is approved or defeated by a statewide vote.

The measure lawmakers put on the ballot for next year will change that standard for citizen-led referendums, requiring it pass not only statewide but also in each of the state’s eight congressional districts. It’s a virtually impossible standard that will allow just 5% or so of the state’s voters to scuttle any proposed amendment even if there is overwhelming statewide support for it.

With typical arrogance, the lawmakers’ proposed amendment would set that stratospheric bar only for measures put on the ballot by citizen-led petition drives. When lawmakers vote to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, it would still need just a statewide majority to pass.

How could any Missourian of any political persuasion not be absolutely appalled by that imperious hypocrisy?

We know from previous statewide votes on issues like reproductive rights, Medicaid and labor that even in red-state Missouri, regular voters aren’t nearly as radically right-wing as the Legislature’s Republican supermajority.

The good news out of this special session — the only good news, really — is that those regular voters still have the power to override the damage their elected representatives are doing to democracy in our state. Voters should use that power while they still have it.