The Independent View: Missouri Will Try Again to Pass a Voter ID Law

Missouri's State Supreme Court has struck down previous versions of Voter ID laws. But Missouri could become the latest state to institute new rules requiring voters to show identification at the polls under a measure being considered by the Republican State Senate. They believe they have fixed provisions to which the court objected and has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow voter ID laws.

The new version of the law, which was subject to a hearing earlier this week in the State Senate, would allow voters without proper identification to receive new IDs without cost. Voters who can’t afford an identification and voters born before 1941 would be able to cast a provisional ballot under the new legislation.

That the bill is originating in the Senate is significant, observers said, because the upper chamber has been the hurdle in recent years.

“The fact that our Senate is moving first on the bill this year may be an indication that we might move this year,” said State House Speaker Tim Jones (R), a supporter of voter identification laws. “If the Senate is successful, it will move in the House.”

Republicans control both chambers of the Missouri legislature, but Democrats hope to stand in the bill’s way. Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) said about 150,000 registered voters don’t have identifications, and another 70,000 have identifications that have expired.

“As the state’s chief elections officer, it is my job to make sure that only eligible voters vote, but also that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote,” Kander said in a statement earlier this week. “This proposed legislation could keep hundreds of thousands of current Missouri voters from voting, which is not only just wrong, but unconstitutional.”

The legislation before the Senate first would amend Missouri’s constitution to require a photo identification and then a companion bill would lay out the details of which identifications would be acceptable to voting officials.

Gov. Jay Nixon (D) vetoed similar legislation in 2011. Nixon has not indicated whether he would veto this version of the voter ID legislation. If he does, the legislature, in which Republicans hold a veto-proof majority, would likely overturn that veto.