Do you know where your birth certificate is?

by Jon Greenbaum

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s onerous voter ID law, national attention has turned to Missouri. An amendment to the state constitution has been proposed which would require proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, to register to vote.

Today’s New York Times features an article by Ian Urbina, Voter ID Battle Shifts to Proof of Citizenship, which examines the current debate surrounding the proposed amendment. I am quoted in the article saying, "Everyone has been focusing on voter ID laws generally, but the most pernicious measures and the ones that really promise to prevent the most eligible voters from voting is what we see in Arizona and now in Missouri."

The article points out that:

The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card.

Urbina continues, examining the potential effects of such an amendment:

Measures requiring proof of citizenship raise the bar higher because they offer fewer options for documentation. In most cases, aspiring voters would have to produce an original birth certificate, naturalization papers or a passport. Arizona and Missouri, along with some other states, now show whether a driver is a citizen on the face of a driver’s license, and within a few years all states will be required by the federal government to restrict licenses to legal residents.

Critics say that when this level of documentation is applied to voting, it becomes more difficult for the poor, disabled, elderly and minorities to participate in the political process.

The impact of a law like this is clear, the Missouri Secretary of State estimates that the amendment "could disenfranchise up to 240,000 registered voters who would be unable to prove their citizenship."

Click here to read Urbina’s article.