Missouri Independent reports:

Voters across Missouri late last week received a text message urging them to take their names off petitions they may have “accidentally signed.”

The message, labeled as the work of the Republican National Committee, dropped the name of Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, saying he had “declared TENS OF THOUSANDS of petition signatures IMPROPERLY COLLECTED.” The text, from a number in southwest Virginia, gave a number to call in southwest Missouri to withdraw a signature.

The number, when called, goes straight to a voice mail system and promises people who leave a number that they will be called.

The mass text was the latest maneuver in the fight over Missouri’s gerrymandered redistricting map, which is drawing millions in donations from dark money groups on the right and left — including $2 million over the weekend from a pair of Republican nonprofits. The deadline is approaching for opponents of the map to submit signatures to force a referendum while the question of which signatures to count and whether a referendum is even possible remains mired in state and federal courtrooms.