Another chapter in the Missouri photo ID saga has ended. Once again, right wing lawmakers proposed a restrictive photographic ID requirement and, once again, it died with the adjournment of the Missouri legislature.
The saga began five years ago when the Missouri legislature passed a photo ID bill that the Missouri Supreme Court later held to be unconstitutional. Every year since, proponents have introduced the ID proposal in the form of a constitutional amendment in order to get around the court decision. The proposed amendment would enshrine in the constitution one of the most draconian identification requirements in the country.
This year, the proposed amendments went through several permutations as its sponsors hoped that legislators would swallow the ID proposal if only they had something positive to sweeten the deal. At one point the bill also contained an “advance voting” option that hardly deserved the name: at another, the bill was briefly attached to an ethics proposal.
Through it all, however, the fiscal impact of the bill was the most persuasive talking point: in tight budget times, why would the legislature want to enact new voting procedures, which would cost the state and counties so much money, to counter a crime that is virtually non-existent?
In 2010, as in previous years, Project Vote took an early and active role in advocating against this bill and its substitutes. Working with Missourians for Fair Elections Project Vote participated in the development of talking points on the “advance voting” proposal in the legislation, submitted written testimony, and developed an intense strategy for both the House and the Senate.
Finally, on May 14, the legislature adjourned without Senate floor action on the ID/advance voting bills. Voting rights advocates will be meeting in the coming weeks to develop an affirmative strategy to defeat all future versions of this bad idea, no matter how they’re camouflaged.