The Missouri Supreme Court has already deemed that requiring voters to produce government-issued photo identification flies in the face of the state constitution.
Yet, during the last remaining days of the 94th General Assembly, a push has been launched to call for an election to change the state constitution so that Missouri would have the voter ID law.
If the election is called, voters would go to the polls later this year to decide the issue.
Why the extra requirement?
If Missouri had cases of voter impersonation linked to voter fraud, then perhaps the measure would be necessary. But Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says that’s not the case. In fact, there has never been a case in Missouri. She says the problems with voting that do exist would not be fixed by requiring a photo ID.
A voter ID bill in Indiana went to the U.S. Supreme Court. That court ruled that states could require voters to present a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. Consequently, during the May 6 presidential primary election, at least a dozen elderly nuns, several recently married women who changed their names when they married and a number of students with out-of-state driver’s licenses were not allowed to cast ballots.
Those without photo ID generally are women, the elderly or the poor.
We have enough bureaucracy.
Heaping on one more barrier, or making the system even more prohibitive for some, smacks of political gamesmanship.
Let’s get down to taking care of problems that are real.
Opinion
In our view: Photo ID not needed
- Opinion
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Our View: Victims should come first
Millions of dollars in donations have poured in from around the world since the May 22, 2011, tornado. Those donations represent money from lemonade stands, charity auctions, corporate gifts and celebrity checks, just to name a few. In fact, one year later donations continue to come to Joplin.
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Beth Meeker, guest columnist: Same-sex marriage battle a quest for equal rights
I would like to take a moment to reply to guest columnist Anson Burlingame’s, “The Marriage Debate” (Globe, May 13).
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Sunday Forum: 2012 graduation speakers key on tornado, mall school and president’s visit
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Geoff Caldwell, guest columnist: Pack mentality takes truth as a casualty
President Obama’s Joplin graduation speech Monday showed that while there’s the political “right,” there’s also a very active “rabid” political right.
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Your View: ‘Study’ can mean anything
A few evenings ago, I watched a television program on the science of marriage.
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Our View: Support for museum
How can you tell the story of Joplin without the accounts of its mining history?
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Our View: Finding middle ground
The G-8 summit held last week in Camp David ended as expected.
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Anson Burlingame, guest columnist: Class of 2012 upholds character, hope
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Scott Charton, guest columnist: 'Deadline in Disaster' film a story about storytellers
Local newspapers are at their best when they help their communities confront, understand, endure and overcome shared challenges.
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Our View: Make voting easiser
This year’s ballot will not include a proposed constitutional amendment that photo identification be required at the polls in Missouri. Good.
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Our View: Victims should come first
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