In this taxpayer suit in state court, plaintiffs argued that Missouri's Constitutional right to vote was violated by a state statute (Senate Bill 1014, amending Mo. Rev. Stat. 115.427), requiring would-be voters to present a Missouri or federal issued photo id at the polls (passport, military identification, state-issued driver's license, or special non-driver's licence state-issued id). Plaintiffs alleged that the law impacted the fundamental right to vote and equal protection provisions of the Missouri Constitution, and that it was an unfunded mandate in vioaltion of Art. X, Sec. 21 of the state constitution, otherwise known as the Hancock Amendment. The case was consolidated for purposes of a preliminary injunction hearing with Jackson County v. State of Missouri, No. 06AC-CC00587, a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging that the law violated provisions of Missouri's Hancock Amendment. A citizen and the law's sponsor, Sen. Delbert Scott, were allowed to intervene as defendants.

An evidentiary hearing was held in Cole County Circuit Court in August and September 2006, and on September 14, 2006, the court (Judge Richard G. Callahan) held the portion of RSMO 115.427 that requires voters to present certain forms of photo identification is unconstitutional and entered a declaratory judgment and injunction forbidding state and county officials from implementing the law. At trial, evidence was presented that between three and four pecent of Missourians lacked one of requisite forms of identification required by the law, that citizens would have to spend money to acquire the documents necessary to obtain one of the requisite forms of idenfication, and that voter impersonation fraud had not been found to be a problem in Missouri.

The state appealed. Arguments were heard before the Missouri Supreme Court on October 4, 2006.

On October 16, 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court in a per curiam decision, affirmed the circuit court's ruling that the voter photo identification requirements contained SB1014, and codified at RSMO 115.427, were unconstitutional.

The court held that the law burdened the fundamental right to vote and violated the equal protection provisions of the Missouri Constitution, contained at contained in Art. I Sec. 25 and Art. I Sec. 2 respectively. The court noted that the law improperly imposed a poll tax on voters who lacked appropriate identification and had to purchse the necessary documents to obtain it. It also reasoned that law imposed a substantial burden on the right of suffrage by placing bureaucratic hurdles in front of otherwise eligible voters. In applying strict scrutiny, the court, while recognizing the state's interest in preventing voter fraud, nevertheless concluded that Missouri's photo ID law was not narrowly tailored to address a compelling state interest.

Judge Stephen Limbaugh dissented, concluding that the transitional provisions of the law, which until 2008 allowed voters without identification to cast provisional ballots, alleviated, at least in the interim, any constitutional deficiencies in the law.

Denise Lieberman - 10/18/2006


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