A Missouri Senate committee already has taken testimony on Sen. Will Kraus’ proposal to require voters to show a photo ID when they go to vote at the polls. This week’s House passage of a similar constitutional amendment and enabling legislation bill put those two measures in the Senate as well. And Senate floor leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, told reporters Thursday the Senate won’t delay the bills. “Voter ID was one of those things we thought was important to have an early discussion about,” he explained. “It’s something that, I would think, early on we’ll have quite a bit of time for discussion.”
Kehoe acknowledged most Democrats oppose the idea. “But, in my district, as I travel around Missouri, Missourians pretty much believe that, if you need a photo ID to rent a jet ski, you should probably have to have one to vote for the most powerful person in the world,” he said.
Opponents argue voting is a right, and people shouldn’t be blocked from exercising that right by a requirement to have only specified forms of identification. “Voting is an important right,” Kehoe said. “I think it’s a right that people have spilled blood all across this world to grant us.” And that makes it even more important to have a regulation that prevents people from voting fraudulently, he said.
Opponents of a voter ID mandate argue no one has cited a specific example of someone trying to be someone else in order to cast a vote.
Full Article: Senate won’t delay on voter ID issue | Fulton Sun.