“If you show up at the polling place, and you don’t have a photo ID, you still get to vote regularly, as long as you have one of those forms of identification that are in effect now,” says Senator Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, “in other words, a paycheck, a bank statement, a paycheck, a utility bill and so on.”
State Senator Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph says it will take you a little longer to vote without a photo ID under the new law, but he says no one will lose their right to vote. That’s not the case in other states, with much harsher voter ID laws. In Kansas, advocates say the number is in the tens of thousands. That is still part of a court battle in Kansas. But Dr. Schaaf says he worked to prevent that possibility in Missouri.
“There will be nobody disenfranchised whatsoever,” Schaaf says. “I personally helped draft that section of the law, and I guarantee you that this law will not disenfranchise a single person in Missouri.”
In order to cast a vote you’ll be required to sign a statement that says that you understand that a photo ID is required, that you don’t have a photo ID, and you acknowledge that the state will pay for you to get a free ID.
Schaaf says right now the cost of providing free photo IDs to voters is a matter of guesswork, and he says cost guesses are “moving targets.” The matter will be a part of the budget process when the General Assembly reconvenes.
“Basically the next step will be to appropriate the money to pay for the IDs that people don’t have,” he says. “Once that money is appropriated the law will go into effect, and people will be able to get free IDs, paid for by the state, and when they go to vote, they’ll be asked to show their photo identification.”
Schaaf tells us there is an estimation about the number of people who don’t have a photo ID, but he believes that number is “grossly exaggerated.” He points out there was a fiscal note produced in the legislature showing a cost of about $12 million. He thinks it will be less than that. That will come up again in the next session of the General Assembly, when budget experts will weigh in on the costs during the appropriations process.
“I can’t say it will be 12 million, or 20 million, or one million,” he says. “It will be what the experts believe is needed.”
Schaaf says they will take testimony from members of the public, as well as the Department of Revenue, the Secretary of State’s office and others, but he says there’s no real rush.
“There’s not going to be any statewide elections that matter until 2018, so there’s plenty of time to get this done,” Schaaf says. “This law won’t kick in until the appropriation is made, and if we didn’t have the money to put towards this, the provisions of the law would not be in effect,”
The Missouri General Assembly convenes its regular session on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January of each year, which is January 4, 2017. The budget process generally lasts through May, and the fiscal year begins July 1.