Photo ID: Violation or Protection of Constitutional Rights?

AUTHOR: Ashton Cope

Despite the decision made by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2006 (Weinschenk v. Missouri) that requiring a citizen to show a valid, government-issued photo ID to vote is unconstitutional, the Missouri legislature is again considering reinstating the requirement.  The House of Representatives passed the measure to the Senate last week. (HJR48 HERE)

In 2006, the General Assembly passed a bill that would require Missourians to show a valid, government-issued photo ID in order to vote.  The measure was largely Republican with strong Democratic dissenters, including Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

According to Republicans, this measure was necessary to prevent voter fraud in the state of Missouri.  Although they were never able to prove there was voter fraud in Missouri that would be addressed by this piece of legislation, they insisted this was necessary to protect the fundamental right to vote and to keep “illegals” from voting.

According to Democrats, Photo ID was a violation of constitutional rights and instituted a form of poll tax.  Many older, underprivileged, and disabled Missourians do not have a photo ID and do not have the means to get one.  The Democrats stated there was once a time when birth certificates were not issued, and a birth certificate is required in order to get a photo ID.  Since there is a fee to get a birth certificate, it was decided that this would be a form of poll tax.  Secretary of State Robin Carnahan was able to produce a list of approximately 240,000 Missourians who would be disenfranchised by this requirement.

Before Photo ID could go into affect, the Missouri Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Weinschenk v. Missouri.  So, why did Representative Stanley Cox (R-118) reintroduce Photo ID into the General Assembly?

Indiana recently had a case go before the Supreme Court of the United States (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board) regarding Photo ID, and it was decided that states could require voters to show a form of picture identification.  Already, though, there have been 13 cases of voters in Indiana being turned away for not having the proper identification – one student and twelve nuns.

The main argument being used by the republicans is, as illustrated in a debate by Representative Bryan Pratt (R-55), you have to show a photo id to rent videos, pick your niece up from school, and pay for lunch with a credit card – why shouldn’t you do so with something as sacred as voting?  Democrats are countering that renting videos and using a credit card aren’t rights expressly granted by the constitution, unlike voting.

The Senate Elections committee heard the resolution Monday and it will hit the Senate floor before the end of session on Friday.