News from Missouri's state house tonight is that the Senate failed to even consider the very restrictive voter ID law before adjournment. This is a big victory for fair elections and insuring that all voters get to vote -- in a key swing state. Here's the statement from the very savvy Secretary of State in Missouri, Robin Carnahan, who helped lead the charge to kill the legislation:
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan released the following statement on the legislative session ending without the passage of a restrictive proposal requiring voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the polls:
“This proposal not passing is a victory for voter’s rights. This debate has not been about having Missouri voters identify themselves at the polls. In Missouri, we already have common sense identification requirements in place. This debate has been about ensuring fair elections, and elections can not be fair if eligible voters are not allowed to make their voice heard on Election Day.
These past two weeks we heard from Missouri voters across the state that feared they would lose their right to vote because they don’t have a government-issued photo ID or a birth certificate, and I am glad the legislature didn’t put their right to vote at risk. The hard work of citizens and groups around this state who opposed this proposal played a key role in making sure this legislation was not passed.”
The Missouri Supreme Court stuck down a 2006 Voter Photo ID law in October of that year, citing that it placed too much of a burden on eligible Missourian’s constitutional right to vote.
The whole country saw the real world implications of Indiana's tough new voter ID law on Tuesday. A group of 80 and 90 year old nuns were stopped from voting.
A similar bill is under consideration in Missouri -- again. That state's Supreme Court already struck down a previous effort to restrict voters in 2006. But the Republicans never stop.
This time, the nuns in Missouri aren't sitting back. Today, several sisters joined other voters who will be disenfranchised and Missouri's kick ass Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, to oppose the legislation -- just as the Missouri House was passing its discriminatory bill:
The measure passed the house 88 to 69 after about an hour of highly partisan debate. No Democrats voted yes; only Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, crossed party lines.
One of the most vocal critics of the idea, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, held a press conference at the same time in St. Louis to stress her opposition. Carnahan said it was her job “to protect every voter’s right to vote, not 95 percent of voters.”
“These laws are detrimental and harmful to these people who want to exercise their right to vote,” Carnahan said.
Other local residents also spoke out against the measure. Two nuns said elderly sisters of their orders typically don’t have drivers licenses. A woman originally from Mississippi said her birth certificate, once held there in Jackson, was destroyed in a fire.
Opponents say the requirement could be discriminatory – that elderly, poor and minority residents will feel the burden more, as they’re less likely to have an up-to-date drivers license, state ID or passport. Critics also see the cost and process to obtain a birth certificate to get a such an ID as simply too high a hurdle.
Still, during the press conference, the resolution’s passing was announced as expected. Carnahan then suggested that voters call their state senators, who have only days to pass the measure.
The State Senate votes next week. If you live in Missouri, call your state senator. Find out just whose side they are on. The nuns have your back.
Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner.
The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.
...The missing presidential election records were discovered this past spring by Brunner, a Democrat and former judge who was elected Secretary of State in 2006. Her predecessor, Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, was sued in August 2006 by a Columbus community organization that alleged the former Secretary of State and other "unnamed" officials "selectively and discriminatorily designed and implemented procedures for the allocation of voting machines in a manner to create a shortage for certain urban precincts where large numbers of African-Americans resided," according to the complaint.
Patriot Pastor-sponsored Ken Blackwell, the failed 2004 gubernatorial candidate, has left a shameless legacy of voter suppression in Ohio, and his tracks are now covered up.
