Photo ID Voted out of Elections Committee

Committee Scrambles to Pass Photo ID Legislation to Avoid Public Objection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday April 7, 2009

Contact: Bob Quinn 573-690-2440 or Denise Lieberman 314-780-1833

Jefferson City, MO – Three years after the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a government-issued photo ID requirement to vote as unconstitutional, the Missouri House Elections Committee, chaired by Representative Bill Deeken (R-114), passed out a surprise version of the unnecessary and costly bill earlier this morning by a vote of 7 to 5.

In a swift move meant to circumvent public comment on the proposal, Rep. Cox replaced his single page photo ID bill, HJR 9, with an 11 page committee substitute version of the bill as it came up for a vote. Cox’ new proposal not only calls for costly and overly-restrictive photo ID and lengthy constitutional provisions for implementing photo ID but also included unfamiliar advance voting requirements. Neither of the revised provisions were heard in a public forum by the committee so that concerned voters, advocates and affected organizations could share their views on the drastically overhauled measure.

This move also came after thousands of Missourians called their legislators to speak out against photo ID this session.

“It is disturbing that the majority of this committee has made it their legislative priority to push forth restrictive measures that make it harder for people to vote, instead of working to solve the real challenges that Missouri families currently face,” said Bob Quinn, a spokesman for the Missourians for Fair elections coalition. Over the past several years, tens of thousands of Missourians have already lost their jobs and their healthcare; with passage of this measure, they could lose their constitutional right to vote too.”

Even in the midst of a national economic crisis, hundreds of thousands of Missourians without healthcare and unemployment rates at a 25 year high, the Missouri legislature continues to push this unnecessary and burdensome election reform. Past fiscal notes for the cost of government-issued photo ID legislation had a price tag to the state of nearly $6 million. Missourians like Lillie Lewis who do not already have a government-issued photo ID, will have to spend money and hours of their time searching for underlying documents like missing birth certificates.

HJR 9, proposed by Stanley Cox (R-118), would require every eligible Missouri voter to provide government-issued photo ID in order to vote. Research showed last year that this requirement could disenfranchise up to 240,000 eligible citizens, including 90,000 rural residents and 50,000 elderly Missourians. Over 5,000 Missourians from across the state have called their legislators on the elections committee in opposition to the bill already.

The original version of HJR 9 was heard in the House Elections Committee on February 17^th and 24^th. However, Cox proposed a drastically amended version of the bill before holding the vote on it this morning which was not allowed to be commented on by the public. Ranking member Rep. Michael Frame (D-105) along with 4 other members of the House Elections Committee sent a letter requesting Chairman Deeken hear the new version of the bill so that the public could discuss their concerns about the bill. Chairman Deeken denied additional hearings on the radically revised bill and it soon passed out of committee.

Fighting for the thousands of Missourians who would be disenfranchised by this proposal and realizing the unnecessary cost to Missouri voters, the Missourians for Fair Elections coalition will again make sure the stories of Missourians who would lose their right to vote are heard. The coalition continues to encourage calls to legislators asking them NOT to spend resources and time on photo ID legislation.

To learn more about this issue and how it would impact Missourians, visit www.MoFairElections.org