By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, February 15 at 5:41 AM
A hearing was held in Jefferson City this week on Senate Bill 1014, introduced by Sen. Delbert Scott, of Lowry City, MO. The bill would, among other things, require that a photo ID be shown at the time of voting. It also would require paid voter registrars to sign up with the secretary of state's office and prohibit them from being paid based on how many voter registration cards they submit.
Scott Leiendecker, the Republican elections director for St. Louis city, testified in favor of the bill. From the AP:
"I feel a lot of people are fed up, and they feel their vote is being taken advantage of," Leiendecker said. He cited examples of voter registration fraud in the city's 22nd Ward. Since last May, about 500 registration cards have been received from that area, and he is looking into 293 of them as being potentially fraudulent. "A number of them that we already have looked into were forged," he said.
State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin vehemently disagreed that this legislation was a good thing.
"This is about sending the state of Missouri back to the days of Jim Crow," said El-Amin, D-St. Louis. "The act should be called the Keep Missourians from Voting Act." She went further, suggesting the law would set Missouri back decades and undo part of the progress made by civil rights activists.
4 Comments:
How can anyone today live without a photo ID? Even if you don't drive, you still need to buy things, receive medical care, and pass security.
To me, asking for a birth certificate at the DMV is more burdensome than asking for photo ID at the polls.
9:43 AM, February 15, 2006
Rich Lamb, government affairs director for Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, told the committee that between 170,000 and 190,000 Missourians of voting age lack driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards.
10:06 AM, February 15, 2006
Although voter fraud is a problem, I definitely see this as a measure that's going to keep people from the polls.
As someone who has worked with the homeless, I definitely think this will do a lot to keep homeless voters from the polls. Whether people who are homeless lose their I.D.s from suddenly losing a living situation, from the daily shuffle and stress of homeless life, from getting it stolen while they were on the street or in the shelter.... It's pretty common for people who are homeless not to be able to readily locate their photo I.D.s. Should that make them any less entitled to vote?
Of all the people, the homeless are some of the most marginalized folks in our society. This bill would only serve to marginalize them further.
8:55 PM, February 15, 2006
Jim Crow, not exactly...
Similar, possibly...
However voter fraud has always been a problem. This is not the best solution.
12:09 PM, February 17, 2006
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