JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) __ Voters would decide whether lawmakers should be allowed to require Missourians to show a photo identification to cast ballots under a proposed constitutional amendment endorsed Wednesday by the House.
The proposal would clear the way for the Legislature to pass a bill requiring voters to prove their citizenship and legal residence in Missouri. But the amendment specifically states that those who do not have that proof already could not be required to pay for it. The measure, which received initial approval 89-67, needs another House vote before moving to the Senate. Lawmakers have until May 16 to pass legislation.
The Legislature already has approved a measure that required voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. But the Missouri Supreme Court tossed out that 2006 law. The high court ruled the law violated the state constitution by imposing too great of a burden on voting rights. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Indiana voter ID law doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution. In the wake of that decision, House leaders said it makes sense to ``keep the issue in play'' in Missouri. Sponsoring Rep. Stanley Cox and other Republican supporters said there have been instances of voter fraud in past years and asserted that requiring Missourians to show a photo ID at the polls would help safeguard the state's elections. Without verifying voters' identity, ``we are spitting in the eyes of our founding fathers who did die for this fundamental right, and what did it guarantee: One person one vote, not one person three votes,'' said Rep. Tim Jones, R-Eureka. Republicans said Missourians need to show identification to get on airplanes, cash checks and for a number of basic daily functions, so it's not a significant burden to require one for voting. But Democrats questioned if requiring a photo ID to vote would have done anything for the instances of voter fraud in recent Missouri elections. Rep. Jamilah Nasheed said there probably has been voter fraud in Missouri, but she said it's more likely coming from absentee ballots than from those cast at polling stations. A photo ID requirement wouldn't do anything for fraud with absentee ballots, said Nasheed, D-St. Louis. Other Democrats complained the constitutional amendment is an attempt to disenfranchise those who are unlikely to vote for Republicans, such as the poor and minorities. ``We do have rights, and they're memorialized into the Missouri Constitution. If you're 18 and a citizen, you get to vote without obstruction, without the nonsense that you're putting forward,'' said Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart. Lawmakers considered the measure for several hours, spending almost as much time questioning each other's motives as debating the proposed amendment. In a highly partisan debate, Republican leaders ruled out of order nearly every amendment that Democrats attempted to add to the bill. House Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Pratt, R-Blue Springs, said that was because Democrats were attempting to create parameters for how state requirements for voter identifications would work. He said that is premature because the proposed amendment would simply create the legal authorization to require voters show a photo ID to cast ballots and not actually mandate it. Sen. Delbert Scott, who sponsored the 2006 measure, had said previously that he didn't believe there was enough time left in the legislative session to pass a photo identification requirement this year. But after the House vote, Scott suggested it remains a possibility. If lawmakers refer the constitutional amendment to the ballot, Scott said he also would like to pass a bill requiring photo IDs that would automatically take effect if the constitutional amendment is approved. To pass both the constitutional amendment and the bill, Senate Republicans likely would have to use a procedural move to shut of a Democratic filibuster, Scott said. ``If the will is there, I think there is time to get it done,'' said Scott, R-Lowry City. ``But I don't know if the will is there.''
