A Must Read - Missouri at the Center of it All

Campaign against alleged voter fraud fuels political tempest
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

some excerpts:

WASHINGTON - For six years, the Bush administration, aided by
Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive
legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in
ways that favor Republican political candidates.

The administration intensified its efforts last year as
President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into
a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won...

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In Missouri, where Republican Sen. Jim Talent was fighting to hang
onto his seat and hold the U.S. Senate for the GOP, a Republican-backed
photo ID requirement cleared the state House of Representatives by one
vote in May 2006 after an intense lobbying effort in which backers
alleged voter fraud in heavily Democratic St. Louis and Kansas City.

"The White House was heavily involved" in the effort to win
passage, state Rep. Bryan Stevenson, the Republican floor leader, said
in a telephone interview. Stevenson said he wasn't privy to the details
of the White House efforts...

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One of the Justice Department suits was filed against Missouri's
Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. Last week, U.S. District
Judge Nanette Laughrey in Jefferson City, the capital, threw out the
suit, noting that the motor voter law was intended to increase voter
participation and eliminate fraud.

The judge wrote that the Justice Department had offered no
evidence that anyone had been denied his right to vote as a result of
deficiencies in voter rolls, and "nor has the United States shown that
any voter fraud has occurred."

full story here:

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17102317.htm