NYT doesn’t like it
Huffington Puffington doesn’t like it
Our Post doesn’t like it.

Must be pretty good then.

This is all about saving the Democratic Party through allowing the city machines to continue the long practice of ‘vote early vote often.’Everybody knows that w/o the huge kick from the City of St. Louis no Democrat would ever be elected to statewide office again. Cut the City back to legal and identified voters and Puffff! goes the Democrats.

Pure meanness? Pure meanness that the City pols would not get to ‘elect’ their guy over the voters in the rest of the state. No more!

Pure meanness? Pure meanness, that the Post no longer sets the agenda in the state. Sorry…

Nearly a quarter of a million qualified Missouri voters will lose their right to vote as guaranteed under the Missouri Constitution since 1821. The only reason proffered is “fraud” for which no proof is given.

I assert that a Missouri Constitutional provision which has the direct impact of imposing additional costs and burdens upon voters for the free exercise of their franchise is an indirect poll tax in violation of the Fifth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.

Since there is plenty of evidence of voter registration fraud conducted by ACORN, would those same papers, the NY Slimes, the Huffington Windbags, and the Post Disgrace, agree that ACORN is a criminal organization engaged in systematic voter fraud?

Hey guys, you didn’t even mention how purely mean it is that the parasites and phantoms can’t register and vote at the McDonalds drive thru. I sincerely hope that this reasonable bill passes and becomes law. Then I would like to see the PD honestly report when no LEGAL voter is denied their voting “franchise” because of inability to identify themselves. None, zero, nada –

Great, now you are quoting Huffington as a source. First our lefi-wing Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, the most reversed woman in the world on ballot language, writes for Huffington, now the Post uses its sewage to support an argument. No fruad? Have any of you ever worked at the polls? I worked in North County a few years ago as a poll watcher. When I got there, the woman in charge had allowed some liberal group to escort voters to the booths, they had democrat sample ballots taped up in the booths. The head poll judge told me, “well they seemed so helpful.” They were letting people vote who were not even listed in the books. I challenged several hundred people who were not listed, but said they lived in the precinct and who the people in charge wanted to let vote. These people got to vote provisionally, so, if they were legitimate their vote would have counted, I doubt many, if any were. It was so bad, that some judges quit halfway through the day. When I called the Republican officials, they said, “that’s just the way it is, do the best you can.” No wonder Democrats don’t want any accountability. It is not an imposition to require people who want to vote to obtain a picture ID. This is all about perpetuating voter fraud, not about taking away someone’s vote.

No evidence of voter impersonation in Missouri, none, zero, nada?

The problem of course is that the impersonator signs in, votes and leaves the polling place in minutes, without a trace. The perfect crime.

Thanks for your comments, “flyover”. My experiences as a pollwatcher in the 2006 elections were virtually the same. Voter fraud aided and abetted by two election officials (a Democrat and a nominal Republican, evident old cronies with a common and malicious purpose).

Pure meanness? Try pure BS. Not a single citizen will be “burdened” or denied the right to vote under the voter ID proposal and the PD knows it. They also know there have been dozens if not hundreds of cases of vote fraud documented recently. They’ll never admit it, but they know it.

PS: Regarding the PDs latest trend of pulling stories from the fever swamps that are hyper-partisan liberal blogs, if you think that’s going to increase readership, think again. The people you want to attract and who are likely to agree with your generally vacuous editorials have already seen or heard the same thing in a dozen other places. If the PD is serious about gaining new readers, it should try writing something original.

It isn’t the political equivalent of running over squirrels and turtles, it’s the political equivalent of keeping poisonous snakes out of a daycare center. What could be more offensive to those who value the right to vote than the prospect of voter fraud? What could be more respectful of the right to vote than a step to reduce that possibility?

Unfortunately, if you’re a Democrat, it’s more important to allow urban polling places to stuff the ballot box so that statewide candidates can overcome the suburban and rural vote. Democrats don’t care about voters or the constitution, they care about winning, at any cost.

Let the voter id law apply to everywhere other than the city of St Louis.
Don’t count the federal votes that come out of the city, that way acorn, the PD are happy and the cesspool that is the city remains under control of the machine of politics.

Holy cow, you would think that something so basic as how to register and count votes would not be a big deal in a country that presents itself as a beacon of democracy. But here we are living in a country where the two main parties don’t trust each other about anything. Richard Daley probably stole the election of 1960 for JFK, and the Supreme Court probably stole the election of 2000 for W, and we can’t get a fair system together that everybody agrees will be accurate and fair.
Unless BOTH sides are reasonably satisfied that the election was fair, you will continue to have problems in governing. Here is how you fix it:
1- Make sure that enough election judges of both parties are at every polling place. If there are any irregularities- fix them!!
2- For votes taken on a computer- paper backup is essential for any recounts. Without it it is easy to question the validity of the election.
3- I have no problem with picture ID, as long as it does not disenfranchise voters. As much as Republicans hate to admit it, there is a large number of underclass people who move frequently, are poor or illiterate, and who shun such ID’s. Many of them don’t vote anyhow. The few that do should not be shut out. Stop the fraud if you want, but keep the system fair and open.

This is democracy people- not rocket science. It shouldn’t be this hard….

Purple Dude…. How is it that the party that seeks to disenfranchise qualified citizens from their Second Amendment rights is so concerned about requiring voters to prove they are qualified to vote? Is the integrity of our election process less important than buying a six pack or cashing a check? You are right about one thing. It does not require rocket science to ensure that all qualified voters are able to prove their identity and allowed to vote. It simply requires overcoming the transparently self serving and unfounded objections.

Missouri’s SJR 34 trumped the Voter ID bill by a week: http://www.senate.mo.gov/08info/pdf-bill/perf/SJR34.pdf

National coverage? Check: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-05-Retroregistry_N.htm

Sponsor quoted? Check.
Opposition quoted? Check.
Draconian? Check.
Serious threat to democracy? Check.
Unconstitutional? Check.

Post editorial?
Post editorial?

The State of Missouri has accepted, for decades, the identity of voters utilizing current voter identification requirements. Since there has been no voter fraud (see: http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/case_studies_by_state/ ) it stands to reason the State of Missouri’s registered voters database contains only citizens/voters who are validated citizens of the United States, and who have already proven and met the identification criteria required by Missouri Law.

Since we know the above to be true, (the State of Missouri has already accepted the votes of these voters in past elections), and if citizens of the State of Missouri MUST have a Voter Photo ID, I suggest the following:

The State of Missouri create and mail a valid photo ID, (less photo), to each of the validated registered voters appearing in the State of Missouri’s registered voter database(s). Provide a copy of the validated registered voter database(s), sorted and distributed by appropriate county, to each of Missouri’s Department of Motor Vehicles’ field offices (electronically provided would be best). The registered voter citizen then need only to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles, present their “photo-less” Voter Photo ID card, have their name ‘checked’ on the registered voter database, then have their picture taken and permanently adhered to the card, and they are done. There is not one cent of cost attached to any citizen for this service.

This suggested process provides adherence to the Voter Photo ID Law (proposed) in that it provides a valid identification for the voter; it does not disenfranchise any voter who has already voted in the past regardless of age or physical limitations or those who are unable to produce certificates of birth due to no fault or cause of their own; and it leaves open the door for future would be voter registrants to obtain Voter Photo IDs through “normal” processing methods.

If this suggestion, or a similar one someone else may provide, is rejected it will NOT be because there’s no Voter Photo ID card, but rather because it doesn’t disenfranchise voters – which has been the real motivation and intent of the HJR 48 bill all along.

While there may be an over-simplification in my description of the process, it is most probably the least expensive, yet most protective of voter rights and processes. There are, no doubt, details to the procurement process that must be produced, but in general terms and concept this suggestion would work.

Now all that remains is to wait and hear/read/watch the excuses the supporters and representatives of the HJR 48 bill within Missouri’s Legislature which will be designed to “shoot down” this suggestion, or any suggestion that does not comply with their proposed Voter Photo ID Law (HJR 48).

Here is my confusion over the alleged “voter fraud” (yes I remember the drunken rant by Kit Bond when the newly deceased Mel Carnahan beat Jim Talent), everytime I go to my polling place I bring my polling ploace card, my voter id card and my driver license. My name is then checked against the printed roll sheet, I am given my ballot, I vote, then I leave. Since all of these items match, there can be no fraud.

If the state of Missouri wants to have a progressive and effective electoral system then it needs to do several things:
1. Turn over apportionment to a non-partisan indenpendent board who will draw district lines based on population and geography, and, keep the infamous GerryMander away.
2. Have bona fide election officials be made available to nursing homes, retirement homes, senior citizen centers, churches, etc. who in the year prior to any election will duly register any and all citizens wishing to vote. At this time appropriate documents can be verified in advance of any election season. And any possible irregularities can also be handled.
3. Set the implementation date of any law to occur in an odd year, preferably a non-election year.

Lastly, it is time for the state of Missouri to do away with any county with fewer than 5,000 people. Do you realize that Missouri has 110 counties with a state population around 6 million (the majority of which reside in the greater St Louis, Kansas City and Springfield areas), while the state of California with 35+ million people has 58 counties?