Voters in the Nov. 8 election will be required to produce a photo ID to cast a regular ballot.
A court challenge to the law that the General Assembly passed earlier this year was dismissed on Oct. 13 by Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem in Jefferson City.
“What that means for voters in Jefferson County is that you will need to bring a photo ID to the polls in November,” said County Clerk Ken Waller. “We need to let voters know that the issue has now been determined.”
Jeannie Goff, chief of staff for the County Clerk’s Office, said each polling place will have a large poster explaining the voter ID requirement, as well as smaller placards near voter check-in stations.
Goff said the office has fielded few, if any, inquiries about photo ID requirements in recent weeks and doesn’t expect that to change in the runup to the midterm elections.
Waller said with a better-than-average turnout expected on Nov. 8, there may be a few people who aren’t regular voters who may be frustrated by the mandate.
“In a regular election, 65 to 70 percent of voters already have their ID out by the time they get to the check-in station anyway,” he said.
Waller said acceptable forms of photo IDs are a driver’s license, a state-issued non-driver’s license, a military ID or a passport.
The postcards the County Clerk’s Office sent to voters no longer are considered proper ID, and other photo IDs such those issued by schools and workplaces will no longer be accepted.
He said non-driver’s licenses can be obtained at any state Department of Revenue license office or authorized Motor Vehicles office or a contracted license office, such as those in Arnold, De Soto, Festus, High Ridge and Imperial.
Those who show up at the polls without a valid photo ID will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. Then, the voter may return to the polls with a valid photo ID before 7 p.m. and the ballot will be counted at that time. If not, a team of election workers will verify the voter’s signature.
Waller said a provision in the new state law regarding absentee voting has been somewhat overshadowed by the photo ID requirement but should be publicized.
“Absentee balloting has been allowed for six weeks before an election, and in the past, if someone came into our office to cast an absentee ballot, the first question we were required to ask was why you’re voting absentee – you’ll be out of the county on the day of the election, for instance. There are a lot of valid reasons to vote absentee,” he said.
“Now, with the new state law, for the last two weeks before the election, you don’t need to give us a reason at all. Jeannie has called it early voting, I tend to call it no-excuse absentee voting, but whatever you call it, it should make it easier to cast an absentee ballot.”
Waller said he expects that people will take advantage of the change.
“I would have liked to have seen it extended for the entire six weeks, but the law is the law,” Waller said. “But I think this (no-excuse absentee voting) will appeal to a lot of people, particularly older voters who don’t want to stand in line on Election Day. We usually don’t have a wait to vote when you come into the office. As long as you have your ID, you’ll usually just be able to come in and vote.”
To accommodate the expected influx of absentee voters, the County Clerk’s Office will have extended hours in the days leading up to the Nov. 8 election.
The office, in the Jefferson County Administration Center, 729 Maple St., in Hillsboro regularly is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
However, it will be open from 8 a.m. to noon on the two Saturdays before the election, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5. From Tuesday, Nov. 1, through Thursday, Nov. 3, the office will be open to voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The hours will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, and Monday, Nov. 7.
While photo IDs will be required on Nov. 8, it’s up in the air whether that will be the case going forward.
Two of the plaintiffs in the case that was dismissed, the Missouri ACLU and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said the suit was thrown out on procedural matters and not the legal issue of photo ID requirements.
“The ACLU of Missouri and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition will continue to press the case to get a decision from the Missouri Supreme Court,” the group said in a written statement.
Proponents of the law claim that it will ensure secure elections, despite the fact that voter fraud is rare.
A separate lawsuit that disputes other provisions in the new law is pending.