thanks for posting galloglas!
Judge strikes down Missouri voter ID lawKELLY WIESE
Associated Press
The Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/15519955.htmJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A state judge struck down Missouri's new voter identification law Thursday as an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote.
Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan was considering two combined lawsuits claiming the requirement that people show a federal or Missouri-issued photo ID at the polls starting in November was an unconstitutional burden on voters.
Callahan's ruling bars the photo ID requirement from being enforced. He said the requirement is a particular burden to women and the poor. That's because a separate Missouri law requires those getting or renewing a driver's license to show they are lawfully in the country, generally with a birth certificate or passport.
Those whose name has changed, such as some married women, also must provide documents showing those changes. While the ID to vote would be free, underlying paperwork has a cost, and the judge said that's unacceptable.
Without the added requirements to obtain a license or state ID card, the judge ruled, the law might not be so burdensome.
"While a license to drive may be just that: a license and not a right. The right to vote is also just that: a right and not a license," the judge wrote.http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/15519955.htm"However, for the elderly, the poor, the under-educated, or otherwise disadvantaged, the burden can be great if not insurmountable, and it is those very people outside the mainstream of society who are the least equipped to bear the costs or navigate the many bureaucracies necessary to obtain the required documentation," the judge wrote in his ruling.That is at least 260,000 registered voters in Missouri.
Thank you, Judge Callahan!
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