By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – A senate committee has passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would clear the way for a new voter I.D. law.
If the resolution passes, lawmakers would be authorized to pass another bill requiring voters to present some form of photo I.D. when they go to the polls.
The measure could go before voters in November or perhaps earlier.
State Senator Delbert Scott (R, Clinton) is sponsoring the resolution in the Senate.
"To get on a plane, to buy Sudafed, to rent a library book, to rent a video, it's just the common practice that we accept...and if it's good enough for those things, it ought to be good enough to vote," Scott said.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan opposes the legislation. She expressed concern before the Senate elections committee that the resolution would create more red tape and wind up disenfranchising voters.
"The fact that some government bureaucracy can't produce a birth certificate for someone is therefore making them ineligible to have their voice(s) heard and who's governing them, it seems antithetical to things that we believe in as Americans," Carnahan said.
There's no word yet on which day this week the Missouri Senate may vote on the resolution. The 2008 session ends Friday.