Dear Editor:
Our Constitution was carefully written to protect our right to vote. This country has a long, sordid history of trying to limit that right to privileged white men only. Black men have been quantified as only three-fifths of a human being, women have been beaten and jailed, poll taxes have been instituted, all to keep us from voting. Because the Missouri Supreme Court rightly ruled a previous attempt to require photo voter ID unconstitutional, the Legislature got the idea to change the Constitution, to undo the framers' intent that all citizens be treated fairly.
Two hundred and twenty thousand voters could be denied the vote if our voter registration card doesn't match our photo ID exactly. These are citizens already registered to vote. Among reasons a person might lack a suitable photo ID: they don't drive, their name changed when they married or divorced, they're elderly and their original birth certificate was destroyed in a courthouse or hospital fire or they were born at home.
Rural dwellers will have to find a licensed driver to take them to the county seat to get proper ID, after they get the birth certificate. Documents, travel, and missed work days cost. Many don't have credit cards, bank accounts or computer skills for ordering documents by mail. Indigence should not prevent voting.
Obviously, the photo ID requirement is intended to keep the elderly, the poor, people of color, and women from voting.
Plus, your state Legislature volunteered your tax dollars to pay the expense!
The whole scheme stinks of racism, ageism, ableism and misogyny. Please prove Missouri is better than that by voting in November against the Constitutional amendment that would require voter photo ID. A voter registration card is perfectly adequate.
Stirring up fear about people trying to vote illegally despite a lack of evidence is meant to distract from the reality that legislators are beholden to big campaign donors instead of constituents. The Legislature had campaign finance reform on their agenda this year, but failed to limit campaign contributions, leaving citizens unable to compete with big donors.
The undue influence they buy is the reason Missouri's Legislature is recognized as the most corrupt in the nation. Their strategy for keeping this system in place is to pit voters against each other, fighting for crumbs, hoping we won't notice that the obscenely wealthy are walking away with the whole pie. We won't be fooled.