Carnahan denounces Missouri voter ID bill

The law would require voters to show a state or military id at polls.

By Andrew Denney

Published April 30, 2009

The state's top elections authority was in Columbia on Tuesday to denounce a bill pending a vote in the Missouri House that would require voters to show state-issued photo identification at the polls.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that Republican Kit Bond will vacate in 2010, appeared at the Boone County Government Center with Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren and two college students. Kathleen Weinschenk, a Columbia resident who has cerebral palsy also appeared with them. Weinschenk made headlines in 2006 as a plaintiff in a Missouri Supreme Court case that overturned a voter ID law enforced in the state.

Carnahan fired criticism at the bill, sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, that would allow Missouri voters to approve an initiative that would create a constitutional amendment requiring Missouri voters to show a state- or military-issued identification card before voting. The measure would also set up early voting stations that would open thirteen days before elections and remain open for a week.

"For those who don't drive, this is a real burden," Carnahan said. "For those who are handicapped, for those who live out of state, for older voters who no longer have a driver's license or young people who have never gotten one, this effectively takes away their right to vote."

Voters born before 1944 who do not have a photo ID would be able to vote by provisional ballot. The measure would also require the state to provide any voters who do not have a photo ID a state non-driver's license. Voters would need a birth certificate and a social security card to obtain a non-driver's license.

The bill passed the House Elections Committee with a 7-5 vote on April 14. The vote was divided along party lines, similar to the overall debate over the issue. The bill is on an informal calendar for a vote by the full chamber.

The current law allows voters to use a driver's or a non-driver's license, as well as passports, student IDs, out-of-state issued IDs, a bank statement, a utility bill or a voter registration card.

According to figures released by Carnahan's office, nearly 230,000 Missourians would not be able to vote if the amendment is put into effect; 6,055 of which live in Boone County.

Noren said the law would disenfranchise out-of-state college students, who she said are a "core part" of the community in terms of tax base and the number of voters.

"They are an integral piece of what we are," Noren said. "We would be a ghost town without these people."

Drew Bailey, a graduate student from Illinois, said the measure is a "de facto poll tax" on out-of-state students who must purchase new identification.

"College students would have to invest more time, energy and money into the voting process," Bailey said.

Carnahan and Noren both said they support the concept of early voting, but Carnahan said the measure doesn't go far enough and that elections laws should not be set in the constitution.

For county election administrators across the state, Noren said, allowing early voting rules to be established in the constitution "ties our hands." She also said, because the state is responsible for appropriating funds for early voting, Missouri counties could bear the brunt of the costs in establishing the program.

Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, chairman of the House Elections Committee and supporter of the bill, said though there have been no reported cases of voter fraud at the polls, it would be "naïve" to assume that the practice doesn't occur.