A picture is worth a thousand words” is an old saying, but in today’s political climate a picture could be worth thousands of votes in Missouri, where Amendment 6 on the November ballot mandates a government-issued photo ID to vote beginning in 2018.
Amendment 6 needlessly eliminates normally accepted forms of ID (student ID, driver’s license, an expired ID, voter registration cards, utility bill and other currently acceptable non-photo IDs). If passed, Amendment 6 will require voters to show a photo identification issued by the state or federal government before voting. Voters without ID may cast a provisional ballot, but only after signing an affidavit–and we all know how that will work out in the African-American and Latina communities.
The political motivations behind Photo ID have been debated for over 10 years now–it was first pushed through a Republican controlled Missouri Legislature in 2006 but was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court, the state’s highest court, for creating a “heavy and substantial burden” on the right to vote.
Studies during this period have shown over and over again that an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Missourian voters will be affected by this mandate and would disproportionately impact African-American communities, senior citizens, people with disabilities, the working-class poor and students.
Not only are the majority of these voters lawfully eligible to vote, but many of them have legally voted for years. Amendment 6 forces them to secure their birth certificates and other legal documents — costly and difficult barriers — required to “purchase” a state or federal government-issued identification. All are scarily seen as a modern-day poll tax by some in the communities of color.
A coalition of progressive groups — NAACP, AARP, League of Women Voters and the Missouri ALCU — agree our legislators shouldn’t impose unnecessary roadblocks to voting and make these voters second class citizens.
We, The Black Alliance for Leadership and Action, as community advocates who have spoken a thousands of times against photo ID legislation, say again, a picture shouldn’t prevent a thousands of Missourian voters from exercising their right to vote!
Vote “NO” on Constitutional Amendment 6 on November 8th
