A bill to require photo ID at the polls passed one last test Wednesday before heading to the Senate floor — where St. Louis Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat, has vowed to lead a filibuster to stop it. The Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee unanimously approved the bill, though its two Democratic members were absent. It would cost an estimated $16.6 million to advertise the new law and pay for the IDs and underlying source documents needed to acquire them. The Missouri Secretary of State’s office estimates that about 225,000 Missourians are registered to vote but don’t have a photo ID. This year’s proposal comes in two parts. The first would put the question on the ballot in the form of a proposed constitutional amendment. If passed, another bill that needs to win passage of its own would dictate how the law would be enforced.
The two measures passed the House in the first weeks of this year’s legislative session. The proposed amendment only needs House and Senate approval to go on the ballot. The other bill won with enough support in the House to override any potential veto from Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.
Voter photo ID bills have been a mainstay in GOP-dominated Jefferson City for more than a decade, but with limited success. The only time a Voter ID bill was signed into law in Missouri was in 2006 by then-Republican Gov. Matt Blunt. But the Missouri Supreme Court struck down the law before that year’s midterm elections. The majority ruled it “represent(ed) a heavy and substantial burden on Missourians’ free exercise of the right of suffrage.”
Democrats have opposed photo ID requirements, saying they suppress the voting power of poor people, minorities, students and the elderly — groups less likely to have the necessary identification.
Full Article: Voter ID in Missouri clears last hurdle before Senate floor debate : News.