{"id":7437,"date":"2025-11-19T14:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/missouri-supreme-court-reviews-voter-id-mandate-ban-on-paid-registration-efforts-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T14:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:16:10","slug":"missouri-supreme-court-reviews-voter-id-mandate-ban-on-paid-registration-efforts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/missouri-supreme-court-reviews-voter-id-mandate-ban-on-paid-registration-efforts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Supreme Court reviews voter ID mandate, ban on paid registration efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Denise Lieberman of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, center, speaks Wednesday about the Supreme Court hearings on laws requiring a government-issued voter ID and barring paid voter registration solicitors (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n

The Missouri Supreme Court must decide if voters need government-issued ID cards and whether people trying to register new voters can be paid.<\/span><\/p>\n

The judges on Wednesday heard a pair of cases arising from a <\/span>2022 law<\/span><\/a> that also established two weeks of early voting before each election. If the high court throws out the voter ID portion of the law, it would trigger a provision that also <\/span>scuttles the early voting period<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Missouri NAACP and the League of Women Voters filed both lawsuits and got a split result at the trial court level in Cole County. Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled the <\/span>photo ID requirements<\/span><\/a> were \u201ceveryday burdens\u201d that did not violate voter rights but that the limitations on individuals and organizations running <\/span>voter registration campaigns<\/span><\/a> \u201cchill speech and advocacy related to voting and decrease participation in elections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, the outcome of the two cases will determine whether Republicans have finally succeeded in goals they have sought for years \u2014 stricter limits on acceptable voting identification and higher obstacles for organizations engaged in voter registration campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opponents of the voter ID requirements aren\u2019t arguing that there should be no requirement for identification, Jason Orr of the ACLU of Missouri told the court Wednesday. It is the limited list of acceptable identification that violates voter rights, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

To vote under the 2022 law, a person must present a Missouri drivers license, non-driver identification or another identification card issued by Missouri or the federal government with a photo, birthdate and expiration date.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis type of state photo ID requirement does not pass muster under the Missouri Constitution,\u201d Orr said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beetem\u2019s ruling misses the mark, Orr said, because people with mobility issues who cannot obtain documents such as a birth certificate or who have misspellings on their documents have far more trouble than others getting identification issued.<\/span><\/p>\n

The burdens \u201ccertainly are not shared by majority citizens, but they are real, and they frustrate the ability of some Missourians to exercise this right,\u201d Orr said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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