Promise court challenge, grassroots effort
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of the St. Louis American
“All of these bogus charges that there’s fraud going on and dogs are voting and dead people are voting, those are unsubstantiated,” the Rev. B.T. Rice said. “And it only goes into (the Republican) agenda.”
Rice, representing the county branch of the NAACP, was one of nearly 200 African-American community leaders and clergymen who held a press conference at Covenant Community Church last Thursday to announce a broad-based coalition to fight the new state Voter ID Law.
When Governor Matt Blunt signed the controversial bill into law on June 14, voting rights advocates and political operatives were already gearing up for a fight. But time is quickly vanishing as the new requirement goes into effect in the November election, and the logistics involved in obtaining a state-issued ID are daunting for many older, ill and previously married Missourians.
Under the law, voters will be required to show a government-issued photo ID at their polling place in order to vote. Since the bill was introduced, a chorus of critics has said it would disenfranchise nearly 200,000 Missouri citizens who currently have no such form of identification – particularly elderly, disabled and poor people, many of them black.
“This really is a solution in search of a problem,” state Rep. Margaret Donnelley said. “There is not one documented prosecution of anyone going to the polls and voting and not being the person that they say they are.”
The coalition said it is gearing up for a legal battle to have the law overturned before the November election.
“We want to challenge this in court,” the Rice said. “We will identify individuals who will be deprived of the right to vote, and we will challenge this in the courts of Missouri.”
The Rev. James T. Morris, the pastor at Lane Tabernacle CME Church, is pursuing the alternate tack of recruiting congregants to find residents without proper ID and help them get enfranchised, one by one.
“I met with (Secretary of State) Robin Carnahan, and we are going with a case-worker system,” Morris said. “I have 40 persons from Lane ready to be trained.”
Morris also has been networking within his denomination to spread the word, and he urged other pastors to do the same.
“We need to remind people of the power of the vote and make sure they are in a position to vote,” Morris said.
Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) is also a member of the coalition. The Rev. Tommie Pierson of MCU said, “The civil rights of over 150,000 residents are at stake.” He said the new law “strikes at the core of faith and conviction,” which is why so many clergy rallied against it.
It is estimated that there are some 170,000 citizens – mostly elderly and disabled – of voting age who currently do not possess a government-issued photo ID. A provision of the law would supply those individuals with cards by utilizing mobile processing centers to visit nursing homes and centers for seniors and the disabled.
Just after the bill was signed, Maura Browning, State Revenue Department spokeswoman, said that between July 15 and October 15 she planned to send mobile units to each of the 1,500 such institutions to ensure that those citizens are prepared to cast their votes.
“We know that the elderly and the disabled are probably the most likely not to have a photo ID. The director of the Department of Revenue (Trish Vincent) said she planned to visit all 1,500 long-term care facilities and senior centers between now and election day,” Donnelley said.
“Do the math. Figure out how many days there are, and you’re going to find out that it’s impossible.”
State Rep. Connie Johnson initiated contact with Vincent to see what the department was doing to comply with the legislation, which has been widely described as an unfunded mandate. Her report:
“The mobile unit is not an actual vehicle. The mobile units are travel cases that people will be carrying when they set up in Chapter 198 homes throughout the state. The pictures will be taken on the spot and then the film will be developed when the units are returned to Jefferson City, which is where the IDs will be mailed from,” Johnson said.
“Also, DOR will list the sites on its websites and notify state legislators when they will be taking pictures in their respective districts. DOR has also met with all of the directors for the Private Fee offices and reviewed the law with them, and they are fully briefed and prepared to start issuing free IDs to those individuals eligible.”
To obtain an ID, citizens must prove that they are legal citizens with either a birth certificate or passport. Opponents said many elderly may not have these types of identification and therefore would be disenfranchised by the law.
“We strenuously object to any screen that obstructs the right to freedom,” ACLU-EM executive director Brenda Jones said, adding that the voter ID requirement “imposes an unauthorized and unnecessary burden on citizens.”
“Why should those who actually show up to the polls be held to a stricter standard than those who vote (absentee)?” Jones asked, as absentee voters will be exempt from the voter ID requirement.
Blunt signed another bill into law on the same day that provides an exemption for citizens 65 and older from having to produce a birth certificate or passport if they have previously had a Missouri license. Those who currently have no ID but once had a Missouri license for at least 15 years can receive a one-time license good for one year.
Lawmakers said others without proper identification could cast provisional ballots, which would count only if voters signed an affidavit, their signature matches the one on file with election authorities and they were in the correct polling place. Provisional ballots are routinely scorned as unlikely to be counted.
“This bill is regressive,” Rice said. Invoking the words of a Negro spiritual, he added, “We ain’t gon’ let nobody turn us around.”
What you can do
Missouri Democrats understand the bill as primarily a Republican ploy to improve the chances of U.S. Senator Jim Talent retaining his seat against the challenge of state Auditor Claire McCaskill.
The McCaskill campaign does not describe the bill in partisan terms and has taken a seat on the sidelines, but the state party sent a detailed email to Democratic operatives and voters as soon as the bill was signed into law. It contains valuable information for anyone who is impacted by the Voter ID Law.
The law requires photo IDs to meet the following requirements:
* The ID must be state-issued and include both your name and photograph
* The name and address on the photo ID must match the address under which you are registered to vote
* Non-expiring or non-expired Missouri non-driver’s licenses and non-expired Missouri driver’s licenses are acceptable forms of identification under the new law
* Identification cards issued by the United States, the state of Missouri, the Missouri National Guard, the U.S. armed forces or the Veterans’ Administration also count as long as they include both your name and photograph and are not expired at the time of the election
To receive an approved photo ID from the state of Missouri, you will need the following items:
* Proof of lawful presence (most likely a raised-seal birth certificate)
If you were born in a Missouri hospital, you can obtain a birth certificate for $15 from the health department in the county in which you were born. You will need to complete an application, and in most cases, a health department official should be able to issue the birth certificate in a matter of minutes.
If you were born at home, were adopted or have changed your name, you will have to contact the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Vital Records, at (573) 751-6400. Receiving a birth certificate from the department could take as long as six to eight weeks if one is on file. Those applying for a birth certificate for the first time – for instance, many of the elderly Missouri voters who were born at home – may face a six-month backlog, however.
Your county health department should be able to provide information about whom to contact if you were born outside of Missouri; processing times and fees vary by state.
Other accepted forms of proof of lawful presence include a U.S. passport, certificate of citizenship, certificate of naturalization or certificate of birth abroad.
* Proof of identity (most likely a Social Security card)
To apply for a Social Security card or to receive a replacement card, you will need to complete federal Form SS-5 and present documentation of your identity and age, including a birth certificate in most cases. Helpful information about this process is available online at www.socialsecurity.gov or by calling the Social Security Administration’s toll-free number, (800) 772-1213.
* Proof of residency
You must provide one of several acceptable pieces of mail or documents to prove your permanent address. Only one of the following will fulfill this requirement:
* Most recent utility bill
* Most recent voter-registration card
* Most recent bank statement
* Most recent government check
* Most recent pay check
* Most recent property tax receipt
* Most recent housing rental contract for your current residence
* Mortgage documents for your current residence
* Official letter or document from a state or local agency that is on the agency’s letterhead or contains the official seal of the issuing agency and was issued within the previous 30 days
* Letter or other documentation issued by the postmaster within the previous 30 days
* Other government document that contains the name and address of the applicant issued within the previous 30 days
* Proof of name change
If your name has changed, you will need to provide documentation of the change. Such documentation could include:
* A marriage license
If you were married in Missouri, you will need to contact either the Recorder of Deeds in the county in which you purchased the marriage license or the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. County officials’ contact information is available at http://www.sos.mo.gov/MOroster/county_officials.pdf . You can reach the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services at (573) 751-6387, (573) 751-6400 or http://www.dhss.mo.gov/BirthAndDeathRecords/index.html .
The National Center for Health Statistics provides contact information for counties outside Missouri. If you were married outside Missouri, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm to find information about how to order a copy of your marriage license.
* A divorce decree
If your name changed because of a divorce in Missouri, you will need to contact the clerk of the Circuit court that granted the divorce. You can find clerks’ contact information at http://www.sos.mo.gov/MOroster/county_officials.pdf.
The National Center for Health Statistics provides contact information for counties outside Missouri. If your divorce was granted by a court outside Missouri, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm to find information about how to order a copy of your marriage license.
The state party also urged its faithful to make sure their family members and friends have approved IDs. It advised:
* Checking to see that every voter in your household has a valid, current Missouri non-driver’s license or driver’s license would be a great first step.
* The state will pay all the fees for applicants for non-driver’s licenses but not for birth certificates.
* Under the law, voters with physical or mental disabilities, handicaps or “sincerely held religious beliefs” and those who are 65 or older may cast a “provisional” ballot if they do not have an approved ID.
* The new law requires the Missouri Department of Revenue to operate a mobile processing system to issue non-driver’s licenses to elderly and disabled Missourians at no cost. For more information about the department’s mobile units, call (573) 751-4450.
Corey Dillon, executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party, urged citizens to contact his office with questions or concerns about the new voter ID law. That number is (573) 636-5241. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is also actively educating the public on this issue. Her office number is (314) 367-2004.
