Missouri Voter ID Lawsuit Dismissed In Court

ST. LOUIS, MO — A circuit court judge dismissed on Tuesday a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, NAACP and the League of Women Voters that argued Missouri's new voter ID law was an unconstitutional infringement on voting rights. The measure passed overwhelmingly in 2016 and became effective in June 2017.

Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said the people of Missouri and common sense have prevailed with the judge's decision, adding: "We followed the law, we expanded ballot access and we didn't disenfranchise voters."

But, the suit alleged the law failed to fund voter education or free voter IDs for people who could not afford a driver's license. The groups that filed suit say a spate of voter ID laws passed across the country in recent years — almost exclusively in Republican states — are intended to make voting harder, especially for poor voters and people of color, who tend to vote Democratic.

The typical rationale of preventing voter fraud has not held up to scrutiny. In-person voter fraud — the only type of fraud voter ID laws can prevent — is exceedingly rare, according to Arizona State University, The Brennan Center for Justice and others. Only a handful of cases of voter fraud have been documented over the last two decades, out of billions of votes cast across the country.

Nonetheless, Ashcroft said the law is necessary because voter fraud has changed the outcome of elections. He cited a single case in Kansas City, Mo. as evidence.

The Missouri ACLU will appeal the judge's decision, telling the website Missourinet that voter ID laws can suppress turnout by as much as several percentage points — which really can change the outcome of elections.

"Try as it may, the state cannot undermine voting rights by forcing onerous changes to election law and then compounding those burdens by failing to provide funding for proper implementation. We will appeal," said Tony Rothert, the group's legal director.

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