State officials have sorted through more than 300,000 signatures gathered to block Republicans’ new Missouri congressional map, as the fate of the GOP gerrymander remains in legal limbo. The officials rejected one-third of signatures as invalid based on the date they were collected – a decision that referendum organizers are challenging in court.

The other two-thirds of the signatures were considered valid and have been submitted to local election authorities for further counting and verification, according to a status update filed Monday by People Not Politicians, the group organizing the referendum petition, amid its legal challenge to the rejections.

The Missouri constitution gives voters the right to veto measures passed by the state legislature if they collect signatures from at least 5% of voters in two-thirds of the state’s congressional districts – roughly 106,000 signatures given Missouri’s current population – and submit the signatures within 90 days of the legislative session’s adjournment.

Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, said in a statement Wednesday: “The overwhelming number of signatures makes clear what we have said all along – people, not politicians, will have the final say on this gerrymander. Every Missourian has to participate in our referendum process and we are committed to making sure all voices are heard, whether they are ‘necessary’ for qualification or not. The SOS has no right to arbitrarily decide who gets to petition their government and who doesn’t.”