Speaking until 2 a.m., Democrats in the Missouri state Senate staged a filibuster Wednesday night and Thursday morning that successfully put on hold the passage of a strict voter ID bill. The measure could come up again, however, as early as Monday.
For years, Republican legislators have pushed changes to the state’s constitution that would allow the passage of a voter ID law. In this year’s version, the bill would require all voters to bring a non-expired government ID to the polls. Student IDs, even from state-run universities, would not be accepted.
Laura Swinford, the executive director of Progress Missouri, said she’s worried the measure could also disenfranchise the elderly.
“When my grandmother was alive and I took her to vote, she didn’t have a current drivers license, because she didn’t drive,” she told ThinkProgress. “But under this bill you can’t use an expired ID, even a military one.”
One of the leaders of the late-night filibuster, Sen. Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis), accused Republicans of pushing a measure that intentionally targets students, the poor, and voters of color for partisan reasons.
“This bill is only about one thing and that’s one thing only,” she said, “and I can say it time, and time, and time, and time, and time again: suppressing the votes, disenfranchising groups of individuals that tends to vote for Democrats.”
The Missouri Secretary of State’s office estimated in 2014 that about 220,000 registered voters lack the proper ID and could be disenfranchised by the bill. There would be exemptions, however, for those born before 1946, people with disabilities, those with religious objections to having their photo taken, and those who can’t afford an ID.
Sen. Will Kraus (R-Lee’s Summit), who is now running to be the state’s chief elections official, has been pushing the bill in the Senate, arguing that it’s necessary to prevent voter fraud.
“People in the state of Missouri are trying to cheat elections,” he claimed last August.
There is no evidence, however, of the kind of voter impersonation that would be stopped by an ID requirement. An investigation by Politifact found that the only documented voting infractions have been false registrations, something the ID law would not prevent. Many of those registrations never made it onto the official rolls.
With only a few weeks left in their session, the GOP-controlled Missouri legislature is likely to try again to pass the bill.
“When extremists have an idea, they’re very persistent,” Swinford said. “They’re doing their best to ram this through.”
Lacking the votes to block it, Democrats may once again resort to a filibuster to block the measure.