Secretary of State Jason Kander this morning announced approximately 220,000 registered voters could be disenfranchised with the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 31 & Senate Bill 511, proposed legislation that would require voters to present a current government-issued photo ID before being allowed to cast their ballots.
"As the state’s chief elections officer, it is my job to make sure that only eligible voters vote, but also that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote," Kander said. "This proposed legislation could keep hundreds of thousands of current Missouri voters from voting, which is not only just wrong, but unconstitutional."
Among the hundreds of thousands of eligible Missouri voters that could be kept from voting by SJR31 & SB511 are students with current school-issued photo ID’s, senior citizens who no longer drive, Missourians who rely on public transportation, and women who have changed their last names due to marriage or divorce.
"This is not just a simple identification requirement," Kander said. "This is essentially ‘REAL ID’ all over again, as the legislature wants everyone in our state to be required to have a certain kind of identification. This idea has already been debated and defeated by the Missouri legislature."
Kander is the first secretary of state in Missouri to formalize the elections complaint process and make his office’s findings available to Missourians. More information about the Elections Integrity Unit—including its reporting procedure and copies of its completed reviews—is available at www.sos.mo.gov/integrity on Kander’s website.
No comments:
Post a Comment