Missouri voters will have to continue showing government-issued photo identification to cast regular ballots in elections after a County Circuit Judge found the law enforcing it constitutional.
Missouri’s NAACP and League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit in 2022 on behalf of two voters to get the law overturned. The lawsuit argued that some voters struggled to get up-to-date and accurate government-issued photo IDs.
Without an ID, voters can only cast a provisional ballot, which will not count toward the final tally until the voter’s eligibility is resolved by producing an ID.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem initially dismissed the lawsuit. However, the Missouri ACLU and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, acting on behalf of the plaintiffs, added a third voter to the suit and again asked the law to be overturned.
“Their claim that their provisional ballots may be rejected is purely speculative,” he said in his ruling.
“In addition, the evidence at trial confirms that rejection rates for provisional ballots are low, and the rates specifically for signature-mismatch are exceedingly low.”
According to Beetem, the law protects the fundamental “right to vote by deterring difficult-to-detect forms of voter fraud.”
“Voting is the foundation of our republic,” Ashcroft said.
“It is not only our right but also our responsibility. Rather than restrict, I believe HB 1878 makes it easier to vote but harder to cheat and makes Missouri a model for other states to follow,” he added.
“The League believes the state should be making it easier, not harder, for Missourians to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” she said.
“There’s no evidence of voter impersonation in Missouri, so these restrictions don’t make our elections any safer or more secure.”
