Voter Photo ID

Should you have to show ID before you vote? There's a proposal in the Missouri legislature that would mandate it, in an attempt to cut down on election fraud, but some special interest groups have lined up against it. One of those is Paraquad, which advocates for people with disabilities. I invited spokeswoman Michelle Bishop to talk it over on my show this afternoon.

Her argument is that this would disenfranchise many disable, elderly, and poor Missourians who may not have an official photo ID such as a driver's license. I pointed out to her that the law includes accommodations such as non-driver's licenses issued for free, and the equivalent of a VoteMobile that would travel to convalescent and nursing homes to process those who can't get out to acquire the ID on their own. There's also a provision under which people without sufficient identification are exempt, providing they fill out an affidavit. None of this seems like a hardship to me, particularly in a 21st-century world in which you can barely exist without needing a photo ID at some point.

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