Show Me Your Voter ID, Missouri

As Missouri voters go to their caucus today, they may wonder whether the sixth time’s the charm.  This is the sixth year that voter ID measure has been brought up in the Missouri General Assembly.  Rep. Shane Schoeller (R-Willard) proposed a voter ID bill and the House Elections Committee voted 7-3 to send the bill to the House floor.   

The fight to get a strong voter ID law in Missouri has a long history.  Last year, Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a previous voter ID measure, claiming that voter ID would disproportionately burden senior citizens.  However, Schoeller’s bill this year would exempt anyone born before Jan. 1, 1941, from having to show identification and the state of Missouri will pay for photo IDs. 

Back in 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a voter ID law passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor.  To allow a future voter ID bill to become law after the Supreme Court decision, a voter ID ballot initiative was approved in May of last year by the General Assembly and is set to go before voters in November 2012.  However, the Advancement Project, Fair Elections Legal Network, and the ACLU of Eastern and Western Missouri filed a lawsuit challenging the ballot initiative’s preface. 

In 2009, Former Secretary of State Carnahan made the outrageous claim that there is no evidence of vote fraud in Missouri.  This is the same state where in 2005, one-third of Missouri counties had more registered voters than voting-age residents.  In 2006, Kansas City ACORN workers were indicted for voter fraud.  In 2010, a St. Louis man pled guilty to voting twice in the 2008 presidential election.  With vote fraud like this that leads

It can only be hoped that 2012 allows meaning to be given to this state’s nickname: “show me” your voter ID.