Missouri Republicans are brazenly joining initiatives undertaken by the Republican Party across the country since 2004 to enact laws requiring voters to produce government-issued identification at polling sites. Missouri is already one of the 18 states that require identification before voters can cast their ballot.
More than 40 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, we see this well organized national effort by the GOP to make it more difficult for African Americans – and the poorest, youngest and oldest – to register and vote. With critical statewide elections only nine months away, this determined effort by some Missouri Republicans is clearly a move to keep African Americans and elderly voters at lower levels by forcing them to take extraordinary steps to be able to take part in the democratic process.
The Voting Rights Act has had a profound, beneficial impact in registering black voters and increasing their influence in electing candidates they prefer. Denying any attempt to suppress voter turnout and claiming they are acting to curb potential fraud and improve voter confidence, these Republican legislators are flexing their political muscle to try to erect further barriers to voters less likely to support them.
A more independent group, the League of Women Voters of the United States, has expressed concern that this recent push for photo ID’s and other voting barriers is “adding an extra burden that is not a necessity.” They share with the ACLU the view that this onerous photo ID requirement is a red herring that doesn’t even deal with most of the accusations of voter fraud (which are mostly based on absentee ballots).
This partisan attempt to tilt the political calculus falls short of addressing what really keeps people from the polls, including abolishing the Electoral College and reforming campaign finance laws. It is nothing but a cynical assault on the least powerful, who are already at a serious disadvantage in being able to assert their views and protect their interests. The Rev. Gil Ford, regional director of the NAACP, rightly expressed the irony and hypocrisy of zealous Republican legislators and Governor Matt Blunt in eagerly seeking to make it tougher for the mostly excluded to vote “at the same time that they are trying to make it easier for our (Republican-leaning) soldiers to vote in Iraq.”
This systemic attempt to keep people from voting must be resisted. The biggest threat to representative democracy is not voter fraud, electronic voting machine hackers, or software or data manipulation. It is the same as it always has been. It is the threat of discrimination and disenfranchisement. We must stand against any requirements that are designed to reduce voter participation. We must not allow anyone to take away the precious right to vote.