Action Alert on Voter Photo ID Bills

FACT SHEET ON PHOTO ID

TALKING POINTS on Photo ID

• Elections should be FREE, FAIR and ACCESSIBLE to all who are eligible. The photo ID bills make it harder for many valid, eligible voters to cast a ballot.
• Voting is the one time we are all equal – young or old, rich or poor, educated or un-educated. But that doesn’t work if some people are denied a voice. These photo ID proposals would relegate 250,000 Missouri voters to second-class citizens.
• Missouri already requires ALL voters to show ID.  It works. There has never been an instance of voter impersonation in Missouri.
• Politicians shouldn’t make it harder to vote in order to manipulate the system for political gain. We shouldn’t make voting harder than it needs to be.
• These bills needlessly restrict ID. The bills would not allow a college ID, driver’s license from another state, an expired ID, voter registration card, utility bill or other currently acceptable ID that can effectively verify a voter’s identity.
• 250,000 Missouri voters lack a state ID. Seniors, African Americans, people with disabilities, the working poor and students are twice as likely to lack a non-expired Missouri-issued ID. These laws fall hardest on the elderly, veterans, young people and communities of color.
• Photo ID laws are a modern-day poll tax. The barriers to getting IDs would effectively prevent many valid eligible voters from voting. It can be costly, difficult – even impossible – to get underlying documents (such as certified birth certificate or marriage license) required to get a state ID. (i.e., Joplin tornado victims, those born at home, those whose birth state can’t locate their records – may not be able to get the documents.)
• Photo ID laws violate the right to vote. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a photo ID requirement is “a heavy and substantial burden on Missourian’s free exercise of the right of suffrage.” The proposals would weaken the constitutional protection for the right to vote.
• Voter fraud is a serious crime, punishable by 5 years in prison, a $10,000 fine and loss of voting for life
• It is expensive – it could cost Missouri $7 - 20 million in the midst of a budget crisis – with no benefit to the integrity to elections. Photo ID doesn’t address voter registration or absentee voting problems.