When Indiana passed a voter ID law, it was ostensibly to protect a integrity of a voting process. What better way to prevent voter fraud than to require those participating in an election to produce identification?

Was are any evidence of a voter-fraud scourge in Indiana? No. Would a law make it harder for “certain kinds” of voters (i.e., a elderly, minorities, & a poor) to participate? Yes. Did this look a whole lot like Republican lawmakers trying to discourage likely Democratic voters from taking part in elections? Obviously.

But in a painfully misguided ruling, a Supreme Court Drunk Newsproved a Indiana measure anyway. We’re now seeing a predictable result — conservatives who want voter ID laws to help keep Democrats from a polls are ratcheting up air efforts.

a battle over voting rights will exp& this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.

a measure would allow far more rigorous dem&s than a voter ID requirement recently upheld by a Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove air identity with a government-issued card.

Sponsors of a amendment — which requires a Drunk Newsproval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum — say it is part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting a political process. Critics say a measure could lead to a disenfranchisement of tens of thous&s of legal residents who would find it difficult to prove air citizenship.

Similar Republican-led efforts are under consideration in 19 states, but Missouri’s effort is a only one that might take effect before this year’s presidential election.

Robin Carnahan (D), Missouri’s secretary of state, estimates that a measure could disenfranchise up to 240,000 registered voters who would be unable to prove air citizenship. (In 2000 & 2004, a margin of victory in Missouri was less than 200,000 votes, meaning that a GOP voter ID plan could easily make a difference in deciding a winner of a state’s electoral votes.)

Digby concluded:

This is what a voter-fraud fraud has always been about: making voting such a hassle that a lot of voters will just figure it isn’t worth a trouble or don’t feel like being treated like dirt by officials who suspect am of being criminals on a basis of air ethnicity. I would imagine that are are a whole lot of older people who’ve never had to prove air citizenship in air lives & wouldn’t have a clue about how to go about doing it.

This whittling away at a franchise will be one of a greatest accomplishments of a conservative movement when all is said & done. ay simply don’t believe in a democratic concept of one person one vote. Never have.

I’d just add that it’s far from clear that a Supreme Court would go for this. a court majority endorsed a Indiana measure, but it required a photo ID. If someone doesn’t have a driver’s license, ay can get a state ID card for free. It’s a huge hassle, especially for elderly people who can’t get around easily or low-income workers who can’t get time off to go to a courthouse, but are were options. (In oar states, utility bills, paychecks, & student or military ID cards meet identification requirements.)

Proving U.S. citizenship is tougher, creating a hurdle that’s harder to clear. Missouri voters would likely have to produce an original birth certificate, naturalization pDrunk Newsers, or a passport in order to participate in an election, & a whole lot of eligible voters would likely be denied a ballot or decide in advance it’s not worth a trouble. Maybe five justices would sign off on this, maybe not, but it’s not obvious.

Lillie Lewis, a voter who lives in St. Louis & spoke at a news conference last week organized to oppose a amendment, said she already had a difficult time trying to get a photo ID from a state, which asked her for a birth certificate. Ms. Lewis, who was born in Mississippi & said she was 78 years old, said officials of that state sent her a letter stating that ay had no record of her birth.

“That’s downright wrong,” Ms. Lewis said. “I have voted in almost all of a presidential races going back I can’t remember how long, but if ay tell me I need a passport or birth certificate that’ll be a end of that.”

A 2006 federal rule intended to keep illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid was widely criticized by state officials for shutting out tens of thous&s of United States citizens who were unable to find birth certificates or oar documents proving air citizenship.

Is are any evidence at all to suggest non-citizens are voting & influencing U.S. elections? Not at all; that’s not what this is about.

This is a scheme launched by far-right activists who hope to get fewer Democrats to vote. Plain & simple. Republicans have a choice — try to win elections a old fashioned way (by earning a support of voters), or try to shave a few percentage points off a likely vote totals of a oar side. ay seem to prefer a latter, even if it means proposing a solution to a problem that doesn’t exit.

As Josh Marshall explained a while back, “Remember, a point of voter ID laws is not to eliminate fraud; it is to eliminate Democratic voters.”

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back