Missouri secretary of state opposes elimination of photo voter ID requirements

Missouri’s chief elections official said Friday he does not support the latest version of a bill that would provide for mail-in balloting during the pandemic.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said that is because lawmakers cut out language that would strengthen the voter ID provisions that were declared unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court in January.

Ashcroft said a previous version of the bill that contained the voter ID provisions was a compromise between multiple parties, including himself, county clerks and legislative leadership.

“My understanding in the conference committee they stripped out the protections through photo ID to make sure our elections are secure and only kept the mail-in balloting portion,” Ashcroft said in an interview with The Star. “I can’t support a one-sided compromise like that.”

The Supreme Court found the affidavit that voters who lacked photo ID were required to sign to be confusing and unconstitutional. It nullified the affidavit and allowed for registered voters without a photo ID to use a regular ballot.

The language in the version of the bill Ashcroft supported was intended to address the court’s objections.

It eliminated the ability for those without a photo ID to vote with a regular ballot, and instead gave them the option of casting a provisional ballot. The ballots would be counted only if the voters returned to the polling place the same day with a Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license, or if the voters’ signature matched the signature in the registration database.

The language, largely supported by Republicans, was stripped from the bill because voter ID is “extremely controversial” and “always has been”, according to state Sen. Scott Sifton. Sifton, a St. Louis County Democrat, was one several lawmakers on a bipartisan panel to review the final bill.

With just hours left until the legislature’s 6 p.m. adjournment, Sifton said, keeping the ID provisions would likely sink the entire bill.

“At this late hour, in a very truncated session, the complexities of keeping that language in the bill were going to keep us from getting an election bill done,” Sifton said. “With COVID, we need an election bill.”

Sifton noted the final version of the bill also gives Ashcroft subpoena power to help with voter fraud investigations.

Ashcroft said he is still going through the bill “word by word” to review the other measures that relate to voting during the pandemic.

He has previously said he supports a version of the bill agreed to by county clerks that would expand the current absentee ballot system.

Currently, voters can only use an absentee ballot if they have one of six valid excuses under Missouri law.

The legislation Ashcroft supports would create a seventh excuse that would be only valid during the pandemic wherein anyone could request an absentee ballot. The ballot would still need to be notarized before it was mailed to the election authority.

The current version of bill would create a whole new mail-in ballot system, while also expanding the absentee ballot system.

Anyone who wants to mail in their ballot will be able to request one from a local election authority, according to Sifton.

If the voter has been exposed to COVID or is at high risk of contracting the disease, they would not need to get the ballot notarized. If the voter fits in neither category, they would still need a notary.

The bill needs one more vote in the Senate and the House before 6 p.m. Friday to be sent to the governor.

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 11:58 AM.