MO HJR73

Submits to Missouri voters a constitutional amendment to be voted on at the general election in November 2010 establishing a state demographer to handle congressional and legislative redistricting based on federal census data.

Establishes the House of Representatives at 163 members and the Senate at 34 members, with the state demographer required to deliver redistricting plans to the Secretary of State by April 1st of years ending in one following each decennial census.

Prohibits districts from being drawn to favor political parties, incumbent legislators, or members of Congress, and forbids use of incumbent addresses, voter political affiliations, previous election results, or demographic data other than population counts in redistricting.

Requires districts to be based on population equality, respect political subdivision boundaries where possible, be contiguous and compact in form, with specific mathematical tests provided for measuring compactness.

Repeals existing constitutional sections (2, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 45 of Article III) that previously provided for redistricting through party-based congressional committees and replaces them with the demographer-based system.