JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Republicans’ decade-long effort to add an ID requirement for voters won initial approval Wednesday in the Missouri House of Representatives.
In a voice vote, lawmakers finalized the language of a bill and a constitutional amendment aimed at requiring a photo ID to vote. The measures still need a final vote to pass the chamber, and the constitutional amendment would need voter approval. A Senate committee heard testimony this week on a similar bill and constitutional amendment.
House Republicans blocked attempts by Democrats to add more forms of acceptable photo IDs, to register people to vote automatically when they apply for driver’s licenses, and to add the phrase “voter suppression” to the amendment’s ballot language.
Lawmakers are pursuing a constitutional change because in 2006 the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a photo ID requirement, saying such measures weren’t narrowly tailored enough and were an undue burden on voters.
