West County Democrats

At a well-attended meeting of the West County Democrats’ FOCUS 2018 — the evening version of WCD — Nancy Price and Denise Lieberman, explained the intricacies of the Missouri Legislature’s most recent attempt to suppress voters and limit the constitutionally derived franchise owned by ALL citizens of the state.

The night’s program was opened by Nancy Price, the Speaker’s Bureau Chair and Secretary for the League of Women Voters here in St. Louis. Nancy described the new voting restriction imposed on Missouri Citizens by the Missouri legislature. We discovered that while it is not been made impossible for all citizens to vote, the legislature has made it exceedingly difficult for certain populations to do so. Those populations consist of citizens who are:

Women

Youth

Seniors

Disabled

Non-Whites

If one is willing to sign an “affidavit” of identification — a “papers please” gesture — then one will be permitted to exercise the vote — a right and privilege they already possess without anyone’s permission.

Following Ms. Price, Denise Lieberman, a nationally recognized expert on voting rights, who serves as Senior Attorney and Co-Director of the Power & Democracy Program at Advancement Project, further explained how this new ID law came to be in Missouri.

For years the, Republicans tried to pass voter suppression initiatives like this voter ID law through the usual channels in the legislature, but the Missouri courts always ruled their efforts unconstitutional. You see, the Missouri Constitution has a provision protecting voting rights of its citizens. Well, no doubt Republican donors worked their monied magic to foist language changes in that provision so that this new restrictive law could pass judicial review. It did.

Ms Lieberman pointed out that this law —even though it went into effect earlier this year — is being challenged on grounds that it is not adequately funded to implement properly and fairly. Lieberman explained that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says he doesn’t have the money to adequately inform Missouri voters of the requirements to cast a ballot. Nothing has been sent to voters to alert them to these new “papers please” rules.

Documents are available explaining the new laws requirements, but you have to know to contact the Missouri Secretary of State’s office to get them and then be prepared to be placed on hold for a every long time.