Missouri election authorities cannot require voters without a photo ID to sign a statement that a Cole County judge called “contradictory and misleading,” the judge ruled last week.
Earlier this month, Cole County Judge Richard Callahan tossed part of the state’s voter ID law that voters approved in 2016. But in statements after the ruling, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft claimed the court ruling did not apply to local election authorities who administer elections.
“My understanding is his order actually doesn’t stop the statement from having to be signed when you go to vote because the secretary of state’s office, as we told the judge, is not the one that requires that,” Ashcroft said in an interview with a Columbia radio station earlier last month. “That’s done by the local election authorities.”
Callahan’s ruling last week — issued after plaintiffs requested the order be clarified — said the order does apply to local election authorities. The clarification comes just before the midterm election.
The law requires that voters either show a photo ID before voting or show another form of ID, like a bank statement or utility bill. If they show another form of ID, the law had said they must sign a statement acknowledging they don’t have an approved form of voter ID and realize it’s required to vote and that they know the state will help them obtain the required ID. Now, voters without a photo ID won’t have to sign the statement.
The lawsuit was filed this summer by Priorities USA, a Democratic-aligned voting rights group, on behalf of a Jackson County woman.
Assistant House Minority Leader Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis, criticized Ashcroft in a statement after the ruling for claiming the affidavit was still required.
“For two weeks, Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft continued to provide false information to Missouri voters about voter identification requirements in violation of a court order forbidding him from doing so,” Mitten said. “Today, the judge in the case again told Ashcroft to stop deceiving Missouri voters.”
Sometime last Tuesday, Ashcroft’s office altered the language on its website to eliminate the affidavit in accordance with the ruling and eliminate language that implied a photo ID was necessary to vote.