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.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Citizens United v. FEC Update

Yesterday, the city councils of Los Angeles, California, and Albany, New York, voted unanimously to support constitutional amendments that would undo the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.

There is a plan for a nationwide day of action on January 21, 2012, the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which allows unlimited corporate spending in elections.

Jim Hightower is an author, public speaker and radio commentator who for decades has battled the “Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be.” He’ll address house parties, Public Citizen, and with some allies, will lay out visions for the “Occupy the Anniversary” events taking place across the country on January 21, 2012.

Today, the City Council of Los Angeles voted, also unanimously, for a resolution making the same appeal to support a constitutional amendments that would undo the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.

Corporate personhood is the legal concept that underpins rulings like the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v the Federal Election Commission; it means that corporations are considered people under the law, with the constitutional right of free speech. Since the courts have also defined money as constitutionally protected speech, the upshot is that corporations are empowered to spend unlimited amounts of money trying to influence the political process.

In order to reverse Citizens United—and a long line of other rulings supporting corporate rights over human ones—the resolutions passed by Los Angeles and Occupy L.A. call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly stating that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

It’s little surprise that Occupy, a movement that wants our nation’s decisions to be made by the 99% instead of the 1%, supports a constitutional fix for the problem of corporate influence on politics. In its first official statement, the flagship occupation in New York’s Zuccotti Park declared, “no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.” The assembly included in a list of grievances the fact that corporations “have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.” Other Occupy sites have also called for constitutional checks on corporate power, and slogans calling for the end of corporate personhood and the overruling of Citizens United are common sights on protesters’ signs.

But when L.A. and Occupy L.A. are making the same unanimous demand, it’s clear that the desire to take on corporate power in politics is gaining traction. Indeed, though Los Angeles is the largest city to date to join the call for a constitutional amendment taking on corporate personhood, it’s not the first. So far this year, voters in Boulder, Colo.; Missoula, Mont.; Madison, Wisc.; and Dane County, Wisc., have all passed ballot initiatives making the same appeal, with support ranging from 75 percent to 84 percent. Other cities, including Pittsburgh, Penn., have gone so far as to eliminate the rights of “personhood” for corporations seeking to perform certain activities within their borders.

“Local resolution campaigns are an opportunity for citizens to speak up and let it be known that we won’t accept the corporate takeover of our government,” said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, a spokesperson for Move to Amend. The group was created in the wake of Citizens United to advocate for a constitutional amendment that would overrule the decision; a local chapter pressed for passage of the resolution by the L.A. City Council. Move to Amend hopes that 50 cities and towns will put the same resolution on ballots next November. “Our plan is to build a movement that will drive this issue into Congress from the grassroots,” said Sopoci-Belknap.

Approximately 100 people came to the L.A. council meeting to support the resolution, many of them reportedly members of Occupy L.A.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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A Constitutional Amendment to Take Back Our Government

I found this on the website, New York Civic, by Edward Koch who served as New York City Mayor from 1978 to 1989.

"Money has taken over our political system in a way that is simply horrifying. Special interest groups in particular corporations, unions, Wall Streeters and bankers dominate our politics. They have devastated this country economically, yet they have gotten away with it because they choose and finance our candidates for low and high public office. We complain but do nothing about this situation and feel helpless.

But we are not helpless. Because of our numbers, we have in our power the ability to amend the Constitution of the United States to vastly limit the power of money to manipulate and control the electoral process. Let's do it. Those in our society who unfairly use the power of money to oppress us do not have to prevail. They are vastly outnumbered by the backbone of our nation, the middle class, and by others who are similarly outraged by the power of money to oppress us."

Use the above link to read the entire aricle.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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