Boone County residents may have “bigger problems” if a decision regarding the state’s congressional map for the November general election isn’t made before mid-October, Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said Wednesday.
The congressional map decision remains in limbo after conflicting court rulings caused confusion on Tuesday over whether voters cast ballots according to the gerrymandered 2025 congressional map or its 2022 counterpart. Primary elections in August used the new “Missouri First” map, but the recent conflicting rulings are not clear on which map will be used.
“I have to believe that we will know by no-excuse absentee voting what we’re doing,” Lennon said. That period begins Oct. 20.
For some Boone County residents, changing the map would mean changing who shows up on their November ballot. The county is split two different ways between the two maps.
The 2025 congressional map houses most of the city of Columbia in the 3rd District and northern Boone County in a new 5th District.
In contrast to one representative covering most of Columbia’s city limits, the 2022 map splits Boone County at Broadway: northern Columbia is housed in the 4th District while its southern counterpart is in the 3rd District.
The shake-up and uncertainty has left some Columbia residents angry.
Kristin Bowen, who attended an election Lunch and Learn on Wednesday led by Lennon and hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Daniel Boone Regional Library, said she doesn’t “have a lot of respect” for how politicized the congressional map issue has become.
“It’s unacceptable to be playing games with our right to vote,” she said. “And who we send to Washington is something I think we all care about.”
Carla Klein and Gordon Rogers, both of Columbia, called Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ rejection of a citizen initiative petition prompted by People Not Politicians, which received over 300,000 signatures, “anti-citizen.” The petition had nearly 200,000 more signatures than the required threshold to force a referendum and put the new congressional map on the ballot.
Klein, who collected signatures for the petition, said the secretary of state’s initial decision made her “furious.”
“They’re (the Republican Party) the ones that are gerrymandering this map,” Klein said. “They’re disrespecting voters, they’re taking away a right to vote, and people cannot ... they can’t keep being nonpartisan. We’ve had a supermajority of Republicans for 20 years, and this is what it’s bought us.”
But for others, the congressional map issue isn’t necessarily front of mind. Daviante Shahid, who works at a student housing complex downtown , told the Missourian he hasn’t heard about the issue.
“I think this should have been dealt with a while back, thought out longer, but I’m not sure about all the ins and outs of it,” Shahid said.
Lennon said election officials won’t know what map to use for the general election “until the courts come to some sort of consensus.” She said her office will continue to use social media, sample ballots and public-facing events like the Lunch and Learn to update residents ahead of the election and mitigate confusion.
The Boone County Clerk’s Office is using its website and Facebook page to provide updates about the court decisions regarding the 2026 election.
“We’re literally, on an hour-by-hour basis, seeing new filings in federal court and in the Supreme Court of Missouri and things are way too volatile right now to know what the appropriate thing to do is,” she said.
If it gets to a point where a map has not been settled and voting begins, Lennon said her office will provide information to voters that the map could still change. A ballot must be ready when military and overseas ballots are shipped on Sept. 18, and absentee voting begins on Sept. 22, she said.
“There’s not an option for us to not comply with the statutes,” Lennon told community members at the Wednesday election event.
Lennon is optimistic about voter turnout for the general election despite uncertainty over congressional maps.
“This exact situation happened in August. Up until August, everybody was in their old district (decided by the 2022 map), and then all of a sudden they were in a new district,” Lennon said. “So they’ve already had to deal with confusion once, and I feel like they did a good job.”
“We can do it again,” she added.
The deadline to register for the Nov. 3 general election in Missouri is Oct. 7.