Voter ID concerns

As an independent voter, I have serious concerns about a picture voter ID measure promoted in a recent editorial, and claims made about it.

One would deduce from the aggressive campaign pushing this measure that Missouri has a serious problem with election fraud. The facts say otherwise. Between 2000 and 2012, only 17 cases of voter fraud have been reported in Missouri, and most of those were committed by interest groups as opposed to individuals. Other states, including Texas, show similar results. Contrary to some dire claims, scads of illegal aliens are not taking aim at our polling places.

It was implied that such laws have no negative impact on voter turnout. Yet a 2014 U.S. Goverment Accountability Office report found that in 2008 and 2012, similar laws in Tennessee and Kansas reduced turnout by young people and minorities.

So what is really behind this aggressive campaign? When a similar law was passed in Pennsylvania in 2012, a state lawmaker made that clear. "Done!" said he, "voter ID is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

Picture ID is not a bad idea. Using it to bludgeon an opposing political party, however, is un-American. I question the veracity of the well-funded group pushing this Trojan horse. Given the flood of political money unleashed by the Citizen's United ruling, surely a political party can fund a campaign to satisfy the sadly misguided quest for voter ID legislation, while at the same time assuring no voters are disenfranchised.

Will Richardson, Jackson