Voters

With two party-line votes this morning, the House Elections Committee approved Rep. John Diehl's (R-Town and Country) HB1966 to require voters to present government-issued photo identification before voting, and Rep. Stanley Cox' (R-Sedalia) HJR64, a proposed constitutional amendment that would create the framework for Diehl's bill. Both pieces of legislation also include provisions for early voting to distract attention from the true intent of their efforts.

Boone Co. resident J. Karl Miller's op-ed calling for VOTER ID in Missouri confuses the issues surrounding this year's proposed PHOTO ID law.  I couldn't agree more that Voter ID is necessary for fair elections and that's why Missouri already HAS commonsense voter ID laws in place.  Like a lot of people supporting HJR 9, Mr. Miller confuses current voter ID requirements with restrictive government-issued photo ID proposals that have been floating around the legislature for several years now.

Mr. Miller goes on to sight that rampant frequency of voter fraud hypothetical voter impersonation fraud as a reason to require photo ID, and in effect disenfranchise 230,000 voters.  He then goes on to equate the constitutional RIGHT to vote the same way as boarding a plane to Vegas or renting "Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle" as being one and the same as voting for the next President.

It's time that folks get their facts straight and understand that photo ID requirements threaten our access to to the ballot. 

Affected voters and Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren held an awareness event with Secretary of State Robin Carnahan this afternoon to discuss an updated list of registered voters who don't have driver's licenses. The event comes as HJR 9 sits on the House Perfection Calendar and legislators have predicted that it will be sent out of the House this week. 

Overall, there are nearly 230,000 Missouri registered voters who currently do not have government-issued identification. Breaking it down by county, we see a startling trend of which voters will be most impacted:

• St. Louis Co.: 51,708
• St. Louis City:  29,949
• Kansas City:  22,741
• Greene Co:  10,043
• Jackson Co:  8,866
• Boone Co:  6,055
• St. Charles Co:  5,903
• Clay Co:  5,580

The list goes on and on and on...

I don't need anymore evidence to know that photo ID will cause chaos and disenfranchise voters statewide.  I don't need anymore evidence to understand that this measure will create more hurdles for progressives than out-state conservatives.