The state legislature adjourned last week without having rewritten a ballot measure that, if passed, would have paved the way for voter ID in Missouri. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia S. Joyce struck down the original draft, SJR 2, as “insufficient and unfair.”
Because the attorney general did not appeal Judge Joyce’s decision, efforts to subvert the ruling quickly emerged, but none were successful prior to adjournment. The secretary of state’s office has confirmed voter ID will not be on the ballot.
Ben Hovland, Senior Counsel of the Fair Elections Legal Network:
Instead of focusing on making voting more difficult, the legislature in future sessions should pass legislation that would make registration and voting more convenient, such as allowing online voter registration and early voting.
Representative Shane Schoeller, an ALEC member who is running for Secretary of State, has been behind these proposals. For more information, check out The Right to Vote under Attack: The Campaign to Keep Millions of Americans from the Ballot Box, a Right Wing Watch: In Focus report by PFAW Foundation.