Thread by @hansilowang

Last night, Missouri voters passed a state constitutional amendment that could lead to the redrawing of legislative districts based on the number of U.S. citizens old enough to vote rather than of all residents. From Amendment 3:
sos.mo.gov/CMSImages/Elec…

2. It's not clear exactly how "one person, one vote" will be interpreted when Missouri's voting maps are redrawn.

In general, states draw voting districts based on the total population, i.e., census numbers of every person living in an area, regardless of citizenship status.

3. Drawing voting districts based on the number of U.S. citizens old enough to vote "would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites," wrote GOP strategist Thomas Hofeller, who advocated for adding a citizenship question to census forms:
documentcloud.org/documents/6077…

4. If you're wondering if it's legal to draw voting districts based on the number of eligible voters rather than of all residents, the U.S. Supreme Court left that an open question back in 2016. From #SCOTUS majority opinion in Evenwel v. Abbott:
supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/…

5. Meanwhile, the Census Bureau's on track to release the block-level citizenship data needed to redraw voting districts based on eligible voters. There was no citizenship question on the #2020Census, but Trump admin pushed ahead with government records.

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1323387743934783488?s=20

6. The ingredients for a potential Supreme Court fight over who counts when state legislative districts are redrawn are lining up.

By the way, this is separate from the ongoing #SCOTUS fight over who counts when congressional districts are redrawn:
npr.org/2020/10/22/919…

7. A sponsor of Missouri's Amendment 3, Republican state Sen. Dan Hegeman, has said drawing voting districts based on "one person, one vote" means using a count of "people that are able to vote." From 56:44 of audio of Jan. 29 Missouri Senate floor debate:
media.senate.mo.gov/DebateArchive/…

8. During Aug. 28 court hearing, Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer told appeals court Judge Alok Ahuja that redistricting based on "one person, one vote" means it's "based on the number of actual eligible voters in a relevant district as opposed to an absolute population"

9. Here's the audio of the Aug. 28 oral arguments before the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals in Pippens et al v. Ashcroft et al:
drive.google.com/file/d/1rL_8dD…