The Missouri House has passed legislation that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls.
The Thursday vote split exactly along party lines.
Democrats hammered away at Republicans’ arguments that the bill would combat voter fraud, saying there hasn’t been a documented case of voter fraud in decades – and that the bill does nothing to deal with voter registration fraud. GOP House Member Todd Richardson of Poplar Bluff disagreed.
“If you’re willing to fill out a fraudulent voter registration, what’s your intent? It’s to fraudulently vote…this bill does deal with that issue, because if someone tries to fraudulently vote with a fraudulent registration, they’ve now got to produce an ID,” Richardson said.
The bill now goes to the Missouri Senate, where a similar bill is waiting to be debated. Governor Nixon vetoed the voter ID bill last year.
