KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers Kansas City, Missouri. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
Alyssa received a tip from a viewer asking why they received text messages warning against the redistricting referendum effort.
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Opponents to Missouri's newly drawn congressional district maps are approaching the final stretch of a referendum campaign.
A KSHB 41 viewer reached out with concerns about a text message blast sent to Missourians from the Republican National Committee that warned against signing petitions during Black Friday.
The text claimed petitioners were trying to trick people and not to give them personal information.
Missouri's Republican Party confirmed with KSHB 41 Reporter Alyssa Jackson the message wasn't a scam.
"The text from the RNC is warning Missourians to be cautious when giving out personal information this holiday season. Unfortunately, there are always malicious actors that wish to take advantage of Missourian's generosity during the holiday season. There are serious questions about the signature collection tactics these groups are using," said Miles Ross, executive director for the Missouri Republican Party.
Jarrod Sims, a volunteer for People Not Politicians, a nonpartisan group of organizations and voters opposing mid-cycle redistricting of Missouri's congressional districts, was out collecting signatures Wednesday morning in Belton.
"I'm sorry to bother you — but have you had a chance to sign the petition for fair electoral maps in Missouri yet?" he asked people walking near him.
Sims has collected 80 signatures on the street car line, outside of polling places, and libraries.
He said the group is focused on Missouri's 4th Congressional District before the deadline.
Sims said: "Congressional maps are going to disenfranchise large portions of Missouri voters, particularly in Kansas City and on Kansas City's east side."
People Not Politicians reports collecting more than 200,000 signatures in Missouri's 115 counties.
The threshold is 110,000. However, the effort faces pending legal challenges. The courts haven't decided whether a majority of the signatures will be declared invalid.
If the referendum campaign is successful, it would freeze House Bill No.1 and allow voters to approve or reject the maps passed by Missouri lawmakers.
"It's got the other side of the legislature worried and they're trying to throw a lot of disinformation out there to throw us off our game," Sims said.
Matt Harris, an associate professor of political science at Park University, doesn't think the text campaign was a politically confident move.
"It's clearly a scare tactic," he said. "It's something where I think momentum is against the proposed redistricting plan and the GOP understands if you're losing that argument you have to try to make it about something else."
People Not Politicians must turn in signatures by Dec.11.
In the meantime, the professor encourages people to do their own research.
"If you run into a signature collector on Black Friday, I think the thing I would say, you can talk to them, you can ask them questions," Harris said. "Make this discussion on the merits of the proposed redistricting effort as opposed to these scare tactics."
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