Bill would mandate photo ID for voters

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April 20, 2006

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Apr 20, 2006, 12:15 AM CDT

By Sadie Gurman

Globe Capitol Correspondent

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Most of the people Ron Sampson works with already carry some kind of photo ID, and the ones who don't probably wouldn't mind smiling for a camera to have one taken.

But if a bill requiring voters to flash their pictures before casting their ballots passes, Sampson, director of the Joplin Workshop, said disabled voters might face yet another hurdle to participating in government if they can't get their picture snapped in time for an election.

"Transportation is a major issue for disabled people, poor people and senior citizens," Sampson said in a phone interview. "The main concern is: Where would they have to go to get them, and how would they get there and get back?"

Sampson's concern is a common criticism of a bill advancing in the Senate that would mandate a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID card for voters. Supporters say the additional verification would curb voter fraud, but the bill has taken heat from some Democrats who charge that requiring photo IDs would discourage some voters, particularly the elderly and disabled.

Under the proposal, the state would provide the first ID card for free, but voters would pay for lost or additional cards, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Delbert Scott, in an interview. Registered voters who don't have driver licenses could receive photo ID cards at any fee or licensing office in the state, said Scott, R-Lowry City.

After hours of filibuster last month, the bill was slated for debate again Wednesday but never made it to the floor. Scott said the Senate probably will address the bill at some point today, before the Legislature adjourns for the weekend. Some Democrats, including Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, still haven't signed off on the measure, Scott said, and that is partly responsible for the holdup.

As part of a compromise reached recently, Scott said, voters would be required to have photo IDs no later than the 2008 general election. To ease the state into the program, voters would be asked to use their IDs in the November 2006 election, but those who don't have them on hand at that point could sign an affidavit, he said.

Stephanie White, director of programs for Joplin Independent Living Center, said she knows many elderly and disabled people who vote by mail because they cannot leave their homes. In a phone interview, White said she hopes Scott's bill takes such people into consideration.

The bill's original language called for mobile ID-card centers that would travel around the state to nursing homes and senior centers, which Sampson said would help end the hassle. But the new version drops the requirement for voters older than 65, and Scott said he isn't sure whether the mobile stations would be necessary.

"If you can go to the store to buy groceries, you've got enough time to get a non-driver photo ID," Scott said.

Current law asks voters to present some form of identification ranging from a birth certificate to a utility bill, which Scott said aren't hard to forge.

But Newton County Clerk Kay Baum said she hasn't seen much voter fraud in her area. In a phone interview, Baum said many voters present their driver licenses as identification. Other safeguards are in place, Baum said. Poll workers are required to check voter numbers from registration cards against a roster. If there's any question as to a person's identity, poll workers can compare a signature to the one that appears on the registration card, she said. And, many poll workers already know who's who just by looking at people, Baum said. Adding a photo-ID requirement wouldn't change her operation much, she said.

"I don't like the voters having to bring in all the different paperwork," said Jasper County Clerk Ron Mosbaugh. "This will simplify things."

Mosbaugh said in a phone interview that if the bill passes and voters forget to take their ID cards to the polls on election day, most workers probably will simply ask for a different form of identification. Fraud, Mosbaugh said, occurs more often in big cities such as St. Louis and Kansas City.

"At first, it was like Big Brother is watching you there, always wanting ID cards from everybody," Mosbaugh said. "A lot of people just don't like that. But I think all in all, it's probably a good idea."

Exemptions

Voters born before Jan. 1, 1940, would be exempt from the photo-ID requirement as part of an amendment to the bill. Provisions also exempt voters who have religious stipulations against being photographed.

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