Missouri Governor Vetoes Voter Suppression Bill
Last Friday, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri vetoed a bill that would have required voters to provide government-issued photo identification at the polls. CREW joined other good governance and civil rights organizations this week in a letter to the Governor condemning the legislation.
Although there never has been a single instance of voter fraud in Missouri, the Missouri legislature saw fit to pass an unnecessary, expensive and irresponsible law that potentially would have disenfranchised more than 200,000 voters. The legislation would have allowed only government-issued non-expired photo identification, which would have posed substantial burdens on senior citizens, the working poor, students, people with disabilities and minorities. This is no way to run a democracy. Kudos to Governor Nixon for sweeping such rubbish legislation into the dustbin. You can read the Governor’s veto letter here.
Missouri isn’t alone. South Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Montana either have passed or are considering similar voter suppression measures. Proponents of such measures allege voter fraud is rampant, yet there is no evidence to support such a claim. In fact, a recent Brennan Center for Justice report found “the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda … fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare.” So why expend so much time, money and effort to combat a virtually non-existent phenomenon?
The truth is the focus on voter ID measures is not about protecting the integrity of the election process, it is about politics – making it harder to for those presumed to lean Democratic to cast their votes. Governments should be in the business of encouraging - not suppressing - voter participation.
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