Public hearing on voter ID bill held

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published May 1, 2007

Missouri poll workers might still get a chance to laugh at every voter's driver's license picture if the state's General Assembly and citizens approve a proposed constitutional amendment.

The Missouri House of Representatives Elections Committee held a public hearing April 24 to discuss a bill that would put the issue of photo voter identification to the citizens of Missouri in 2008.

If the legislation passes, there will be a ballot initiative in 2008 to amend the state constitution and require a government-issued identification with a photograph to vote.

The legislation calls for the same requirements passed into law last session that was eventually overruled by the Missouri Supreme Court. The court ruled the law was a poll tax because though it provided for free identification, it did not provide for all of the documents necessary to receive that identification.

Rep. Brian Yates, R-Lee's Summit, said this bill addresses the court's primary concern.

"It stipulates specifically in the joint resolution that the state picks up the cost of any requirement coming from the law, so there will be no undue burden," he said.

The resolution would provide money to any office of the government that must provide documentation in the process of distributing free photo IDs.

"In the event that any political subdivision incurs costs to implement the requirements of this law, the state shall reimburse the political subdivision for such costs," the bill states.

Opponents of the bill are unsure that this will provide the resources necessary.

"The bill is very vague," Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition spokeswoman Sarah Martin said. "Does it mean they are going to require a certain ID every year? Are they going to pay for it if someone loses it? We don't know what exactly they will pay for."

Yates said the issues of how to deal with paying for the documentation and what paperwork will be necessary can be figured out in the time between now and the election when the law would go into effect, which would be 2010 if the constitution is amended with the 2008 ballot.

"The General Assembly can work with it and make sure that all of the details are worked out before the next election," Yates said. "I think time was an issue last time. Enacting the bill the same year it was passed didn't give them a chance to figure out how it would work in the communities."

Yates' decision to sponsor this bill involves similar reasons to those quoted last session when the bill passed.

"Basically, (I've sponsored this legislation) to prevent a lot of the voter fraud that we've seen recently in Kansas City and St. Louis and make sure that every vote counts," he said. "We want to make sure that everyone who votes is voting legally and lawfully."

Opponents of the bill said this is not the issue to address in relation to voter's problems.

"The real problem in Missouri is people being disenfranchised by long lines and broken machines," Martin said.

Martin referred to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's Voters First report. The report cited no counts of voter fraud and offered no recommendations to strengthen identification requirements.

"The findings of this report suggest voters would benefit most from efforts to make the process of voting more transparent, efficient and convenient, rather than costly measures designed to address alleged or unsubstantiated threats," the report states.