JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (WGEM) - The group behind a petition to overturn Missouri's new congressional map claims signature gatherers are being paid to stop working with them.
A new federal lawsuit reveals the details of the alleged scheme to stop their petition. It claims 28 employees were paid off by four consulting firms. Some employees were offered as much as $30,000 to stop collecting signatures, according to the lawsuit.
If the petition gathers enough signatures, Missouri voters will decide whether or not to enact the new congressional map. In order to qualify for the November 2026 general election ballot, the campaign must collect signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in six of Missouri's eight congressional districts by Dec. 11.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the controversial new congressional map into law last month. The map creates new districts for Missouri's representation in the U.S. House, and is likely to send one more Republican to the capital. It redraws Missouri's congressional districts, splitting up Kansas City into three districts. It faces several legal challenges.
People Not Politicians Director Richard von Glahn said these efforts show Republicans are scared of what would happen if Missourians got to vote on the map.
"These are out-of-state firms, unclear what their source of money is, but they're coming in just to say, 'We don't want Missourians to have an opportunity to have a vote on this,'" von Glahn said.
The petition would put Missouri's new congressional map on the statewide ballot. The new map is likely to send one more Republican to Washington D.C. and cuts up the Kansas City area into multiple new districts.
Missouri's Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said online she's investigating the campaign for the petition for alleged out-of-state influence and looking into Advanced Micro Targeting, the company the campaign employs to help with signature gathering. She claims the group is employing non-citizens.
"Advanced Micro Targeting is the signature collector for People Not Politicians, a dark money group seeking to hijack Missouri's constitutional order. Missouri voters deserve better," Hanaway wrote online.