The Independent View: Missouri Legislature New Voter ID Laws

In 2006, Missouri Republicans passed a voter ID law, but it was short-lived.

The Missouri Supreme Court struck down the law on grounds that requiring voters to present photo IDs to vote was at odds with the constitutional right to vote. Every year since, Republican lawmakers sought to amend the State constitution and pass voter ID, yet came up short every time.

This year, Republican leadership fast-tracked voter ID, and a pair of bills have cleared the House with an overwhelming majority and await debate in the Senate.

But success in the Senate is not without roadblocks. Opponents of voter ID laws argue that they potentially prevent marginalized people from voting. Senate Democrats are digging in, and a filibuster is almost assured.

The Bills

- Asks voters on the November ballot whether they want to amend the State Constitution to allow for photo ID requirements, a move necessary because of the 2006 Supreme Court ruling.

- If voters approve the first. The second bill would require voters to show up at the polls with a valid state-issued ID that contains a photo. These include non-expired driver’s and non-driver’s licenses and military IDs, but not something like university IDs.

Today, Missourians can vote with a proof of name and address, such as a utility bill.

The Secretary of State’s office estimates about 200,000 Missourians are registered to vote but do not have a valid driver’s license. Most are people of color, low-income earners, people with disabilities, students and the elderly, said Sarah Rossi, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. Those segments make up a big part of the Democratic Party’s base.

In debate in the House, Rep. Shamed Dogan, a St. Louis County Republican, pointed out that a voter ID requirement is “something that the majority of Missourians think is a common sense idea … that people need to prove who they are before they cast a vote.”

Supporters of voter ID argue there is already a safeguard, the option to cast a provisional ballot, that can allow people without IDs to still vote.

However, opponents argue provisional ballots are not adequate. Those casting a provisional ballot must return to election officials with the requisite ID in 72 hours. They must also go before an election official and state why they do not have an ID, and sign an affidavit. That signature must match the signature on the voter registration card. If the voter does not meet these requirements, that provisional ballot is not counted.

Nearly 6,390 provisional ballots were cast in the 2012 General election, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Of those ballots, only about 1,880 of them were counted.

A key point in the argument for tighter voting laws is the idea that a person could cast a vote under someone else’s identity. Opponents of voter ID have questioned the claims of “rampant voter fraud” in Missouri, but Republicans remain steadfast.

Justin Levitt, a law professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, says that most reported cases of “voter fraud” amount to clerical errors, such as partly matching names or a typo in a voter’s address. In some cases, a voter might die between casting a ballot and when the ballot is counted, which might lead some to assume voter fraud. The likelihood of a voter assuming another identity at the polls is “an occurrence more rare than getting struck by lightning,” according to a 2007 study by Levitt.

The partisan divide over voter ID sets the scene for a protracted battle over the bills in the Senate. Democrats lack the numbers needed to kill the bills, they are prepared to filibuster and drag out the debate.

But Republicans could swiftly crush the filibuster by shutting down the debate itself and forcing a vote through a rarely used parliamentary procedure referred to as “move to previous question,” or “PQ” for short.

The procedure successfully defeated the Democrats’ filibuster on a “right-to-work” bill last May. But there was a cost. Democrats essentially shut down the Senate for the rest of the legislative session, during which no bills were passed due to fierce retaliatory filibusters.

Republican leaders appear reluctant to pull the trigger on this maneuver again, but it remains as a last-resort option.

Democrats would try to defeat voter ID in the event of a PQ by calls to turn out the vote and let people know that this is Republicans trying to take your vote away.