Missouri Supreme Court Weighs Photo ID, Voter Registration Limits

One of the main issues in the lawsuit is whether the plaintiffs have the right to sue.

Judge Mary Russell asked plaintiff’s lawyer Jason Orr to be more clear about whether the people involved could get government-issued photo IDs and vote.

Orr, who works for the ACLU of Missouri, said that the plaintiffs did vote, but the legal issue is that it was hard for them to get the IDs they needed.

Orr stated, “This court and other courts have said that the ability to vote is not the burden that courts look at.” “It’s the violation of the right to vote that can make it hard to do so.”

Lou Capozzi, the state’s Solicitor General, said that Missouri voters set the stage for the photo ID requirement when they passed a constitutional amendment that gave lawmakers the ability to adopt such a legislation.

Capozzi added that even though groups like the NAACP believed the criterion was too hard, the amendment passed with 63% approval.

Capozzi said, “Those groups made all the same legal and policy arguments that this court has heard today, like that getting a government-issued photo ID is too hard.” “But the people didn’t agree with those reasons.” Continue reading…