Missouri Secretary of State

Last month, the Missouri Supreme Court threw out legislation that gave greater authority to the secretary of state over proposed ballot summaries. Judges have repeatedly rejected Denny Hoskins' language for being biased or misleading.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, going against a century of precedent, declared that the Republican-favoring congressional map took effect Dec. 11, even though opponents had submitted enough signatures to likely force a statewide referendum.

Some Republican election officials have broken with the president on nationalizing elections, even as they have avoided criticizing him directly. That includes Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who also told lawmakers he wouldn’t provide the state’s full voter list to the feds without a court order.

Missouri Republican lawmakers pushed through the bill last year in response to the campaign for an abortion rights amendment, and to protect against lawsuits over abortion restrictions still on the books.

An attorney for Secretary of State Denny Hoskins told a judge that the original ballot summary for a referendum on Missouri's gerrymandered congressional map is “inherently argumentative” and should be revised

Missouri state Rep. Will Jobe filed a resolution requesting an impeachment investigation of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins over his handling of a redistricting referendum. Hoskins is already facing multiple lawsuits over his actions, including declaring a portion of signatures invalid.

A Missouri citizen group collected 49,773 pages of signatures to force a statewide vote on the redrawn congressional map passed by Republican lawmakers last year. But Secretary of State Denny Hoskins will only submit 33,068 for verification, saying the rest are invalid.

The Missouri attorney general claims that the Republican-drawn congressional map is now active. But an anti-redistricting campaign argues that the law must be suspended while the state determines if enough valid signatures were submitted to force a statewide vote.

People Not Politicians sued after Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said he wouldn't count anti-redistricting ballot measure signatures collected before Oct. 14.

In Missouri and Kansas, the secretary of state is the top election official, a partisan position chosen by voters. But to the frustration of some, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has used his authority to push certain Republican priorities, especially when it comes to ballot issues on redistricting and abortion.

Opponents of Missouri's gerrymandered congressional map just submitted more than 305,000 signatures to force a vote on the plan. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins still has the chance to reject a referendum, but legal experts don't expect that move to succeed in court.

Missouri Republican leaders claimed the U.S. Constitution forbids state referendums on Congressional district plans. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, but the Missouri Secretary of State can still declare the petition unconstitutional under the state constitution.