You really should read this short article by The Political Animal‘s Martin Longman which discusses the implications of the Missouri legislature’s override of Governor Nixon’s veto of SB656 (deregulated “constitutional” carry)> and the Voter ID (voter suppression) bill. As Longman sees it, this type of legislation is dangerous in more than the obvious ways :

I could go into more detail on the merits and pitfalls of both bills, but I’d rather focus on the message they send. In making it much harder to vote at the same time that they make it much easier to carry a firearm, the Missouri GOP is inviting the conclusion that political disputes are best settled (and perhaps can only be settled) with violence.

That might sound extreme, but using the legislature and referendums to enact unconstitutional restrictions of your political opponents’ power is delegitimizing to representative government and therefore eats away at the consent of the governed. What you’re saying is that we need less democracy, less dissent, and more guns. It’s almost a recognition that, in undermining the legitimate governmental function of the state, you’ll need to arm yourself for protection.

I agree with Longman, and would suggest that what we see in this spate of increasingly extreme and weakly justified gun proliferation and voter suppression laws is part of the same phenomena that includes both the destructive, fantastical rhetoric and the hitherto unimaginable levels of legislative obstructionism on the part of Republican politicians.

These strategies are employed as tools by elected officials, often to further the goals of wealthy interests , the Citizens United crowd, who now expect to freely purchase government, and who saw the election of Barack Obama as antithetical to that end – and who view Hillary Clinton as the same type of threat. Combine that impetus with the latent racism stimulated by the election of the first black president, and you’ve got the situation that Longman describes, “when people lose faith in the ballot box and turn to the gun” in order to “arrest the march of history.”

Given the pervasive emphasis on guns in recent elections, there seems to be a lot of such people in Missouri. As we have seen, it has been fertile ground for the NRA. And, given recent state-level polls, not a bad place for growing Trumpkins.

I wrote earlier today about state Sen. Will Kraus (R- 8) and his enthusiasm for photo voter ID requirements that have the potential to disenfranchise 220,000 voters. I had read earlier in the day about the St. Louis County election snafu last Tuesday – the county didn’t have time to reprogram voting machines between the municipal elections and the primary elections a couple of weeks ago. Subsequent database problems resulted in too few ballots at around 60 precincts.  I didn’t realize that the two issues were related, however, until I read a post on the Progress Missouri team blog that first points out that:

Sen. Kraus actually sponsored the 2014 legislation that changed the date of the Presidential Primary from February to March, in spite of warnings the new date was too close to April municipal elections and could cost millions, $37.5 million to be exact. His bill gave local election authorities just 3 weeks to prepare for another election.

Yes, those in charge of running elections in St. Louis County should be held accountable for much of what went wrong on Tuesday. But so should lawmakers like Sen. Kraus, for sponsoring legislation that got us into this mess in the first place. Elections—and bad bills—have consequences.

You’d think, wouldn’t you, that Kraus might be a little apologetic about ignoring the all the evidence that it would be difficult – especially for larger muncipalities – to hold two elections so close together? But not our boy Will. He’s too busy making lemonade out his own personal lemons. He’s trying to get credit for punishing the board of election for their failure to manage the problem he tossed into their laps, noting in a press release today that, “Missouri voters deserve a better election process, plain and simple” […] “The board [i.e., St. Louis County Board of Elections] members need to take responsibility for this and allow the governor to appoint new members.”

But Kraus is more than a strutting malefactor trying to divert attention from his own culpability  by pointing out that the other guys did a bad job. The Progress Missouri piece adds an observation that enlarges the perspective from which Kraus’ posturing should be considered:

Sen. Kraus is currently sponsoring extreme Photo ID legislation that could make it harder for around 220,000 registered Missouri voters to cast a ballot—namely women, seniors, students, and minorities.

So while we appreciate Sen. Kraus sharing his concerns for voters who may have been disenfranchised on Tuesday, we’d feel a lot better if he also cared about the 220,000(!) registered voters that could be be prevented from voting under his extreme proposal.

Finally, documentation of voter impersonation fraud in Missouri. Zero. (August 12, 2012)

[….]

Here it is. The number of voter impersonation fraud cases documented in Missouri since 2000 is exactly zero:

Missouri has 17 cases of alleged election fraud since 2000. By category, Third Party Organizations had the highest percentage of accused at 88 percent (15 cases), followed by Voter at 12 percent (2 cases). The most prevalent fraud was Registration Fraud at 88 percent (15 cases). The status of most cases was Pleaded at 71 percent (12 cases). Responses to requests for public records varied from state to state. Some state and local officials were quick to respond by sending available records; others failed to provide a single document.

[….]

A bill, introduced today by Representative Mike Moon (r):

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1108 [pdf]

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MOON.

2275L.02I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To repeal section 115.230, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to electronic voter verification systems.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Section 115.230, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 115.230, to read as follows:

115.230. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any election authority may use an electronic voter identification system or an electronic signature pad to verify a voter’s address, registration status, and signature information at any polling place. Any such system or pad shall be able to read identifying information from an official Missouri driver’s license or nondriver’s license issued by the department of revenue, and shall be capable of allowing an election authority to manually enter the voter’s information from a valid form of personal identification containing the voter’s signature.

2. (1) Each election authority shall use an electronic device at each polling place that allows the election authority to capture a photograph or a digital image of each voter casting a vote. Any such device shall allow the election authority to enter the voter’s identifying information from a valid form of personal identification containing the voter’s signature into the device and to associate each voter’s photograph or digital image with the voter’s identifying information. Any such device shall also be compatible with any electronic voter identification system used by the election authority.

(2) In the event that an election authority does not have an electronic device at each polling place that complies with the requirements of this subsection, the election authority shall request funding for the fees and costs necessary for purchasing and using such electronic device. All such fees and costs shall be compensated by the secretary of state with funds appropriated by the general assembly for such purpose.

[emphasis in original]

Smile!

Previously:

Once again, some Meta (August 23, 2014)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) – in Warrensburg – August 22, 2014 (August 23, 2014)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) – in Warrensburg – August 22, 2014 – Q and A on farming (August 24, 2014)

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) held a campaign event in Warrensburg Friday evening. Toward the end of the evening she addressed the seated crowd (about forty-five people) and then took a few questions. Toward the end of the question and answer period:

Question: Vicky, I looked at the last election and I’ve been schooled in what’s been [inaudible] and it’s just so obvious that the election was stolen from us last time. How do we combat that? How do we, how do we deal with voter fraud and still get Republicans in office?

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r): You think, uh, stolen as in presidential level, national level [crosstalk] or statewide?

Question: [inaudible] When, when there was a precinct that voted for, uh, a hundred and twenty-five percent of the precinct voted to, for Obama and zero for Romney in the last presidential election. Well, there’s something stinking about that.

Representative Hartzler (r): You know, I, I think, uh, we need to focus on making sure our statewide Secretary of State elections, when we focus on ’em, there is, there’s been some, um, Democrats over the past years that have focused on trying to get, uh, target and get their people in Secretary of States and that’s some position maybe sometimes doesn’t get as much attention as it should. But, they’re the chief election officer of each state. And it, uh, I, I’m not saying that the others aren’t doing it, but it, we need to make sure we put people in there that, you know, ensure a fair election. We feel confident in that. I, I think that’d be a good place to start. Is every time there’s somebody’s up for Secretary of State making sure that there’s somebody we trust and, uh, but, I, I don’t know what else, you know.

Second Question: There were a number of people over at the university they were trying to get students to sign, sign on for the petition so that they could increase the election from one day to two weeks or four weeks.

Representative Hartzler (r): Right.

Second Question: And like they were just having people, they just need enough signatures or live bodies that are eighteen years old. And so, people didn’t know.  I said, well, I’d have to think about it then I thought about it and I went back and asked them again. I said, well, I think that would cause quite a bit of voter fraud. And one of them said, oh there’s never been a case of voter fraud in Missouri. [laughter] I said, well, I said, then that’s my, my argument right there, why would you ever want to change it, make it two weeks. You know, people voting for two week, I mean, it would be very costly and it would be ridiculously hard to, you know, say who’s the person voting [inaudible], who voted…

[….]

[The conversation included the Johnson County Clerk who described the process of checking voter databases for “snow birds” who might register in two states – people who resided in warmer parts of the country for half of the year.]

Third Question: Vicky, what’s the level of support in the House for voter ID?

Representative Hartzler (r):  Well, I think there’s, [crosstalk] I think, I think there’s a lot of support.

[….]

“…it’s just so obvious that the election was stolen from us last time…”

Think about that for a minute. That’s from the republican base.

“…they just need enough signatures or live bodies that are eighteen years old…”

Think about that. To sign a petition you must be a registered voter. Since when is it an affront to Democracy for any voter to sign any petition? Just asking.

Did you catch the shift from discussing hypothetical voter fraud abetted by eighteen year olds signing petitions to checking on “snow birds” who reside in warm weather states six months of the year? Correct me if you think I’m wrong, but “snow birds” tend to be a much older demographic and are generally more well off than those who don’t travel to follow the warm weather. Who might they vote for? Just asking.

And then think about the implementation of voter ID to address the non-existent plague of voter impersonation fraud at the polls.

Finally, documentation of voter impersonation fraud in Missouri. Zero. (August 12, 2012)

News21, “a cornerstone of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education” funded by The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation recently released an investigative project on changes in election laws and voting rights:

Exhaustive Search Finds Little Voter Fraud

Despite the push for strict voter ID laws in a charged partisan and racial debate, the most exhaustive study ever of American election fraud reveals the rate is infinitesmal. Since 2000, a time when 146 million Americans were registered to vote, News21 found 10 cases of in-person voter fraud, which only photo ID laws would prevent. That would be about one case for every 15 million eligible voters.

[….]

Bad things happen when good people vote (June 17, 2014)

[….]

Missouri GOP: If Polls Are Open Too Long, Voters Will Commit Fraud

The state’s Republicans are advancing a measure to expand early voting, but Democrats say that’s not the whole story.

-By Dana Liebelson

Tue Jun. 17, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

….In early May, after hundreds of volunteers collected signatures in church basements and break rooms, citizens delivered a petition with more than 300,000 signatures to Missouri’s secretary of state, whose office has until August to verify the signatures and decide whether to place the measure on the November ballot. But Missouri Republicans won’t let that happen without a fight.

On April 1, a couple months after the petition drive had begun, Rep. Tony Dugger (R-Hartville) sponsored a competing measure. In May, the GOP-led House passed a version of the bill that expands early voting by six days-excluding the weekend-to a limited number of polling places, while also prohibiting same-day voter registration. If the citizens’ initiative is approved, both measures will appear on the ballot in November. “The testimony in the Legislature in favor of the sham early voting bill was actually testimony against early voting,” says Lara Granich, the director of Missouri Jobs With Justice. “That makes the real motivation behind it clear. They want it to be more difficult for folks to vote….”

[….]

It’s all about suppressing voter turnout as an article of republican faith.