EDITORIAL: Lawmakers urged to go slow

Feb. 18—First, a couple truths about voting:

1. It has never been free of manipulation. George Washington first got elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758 after his campaign team plied the few hundred eligible voters with more than 120 gallons of wine, cider, brandy, beer and rum, and while he won, he accused his campaign of having spent too "sparingly."

No one would accuse politicians of spending sparingly these days, and although they aren't plying voters with booze — or even so much as water in some states — they are getting them drunk on promises they know they can't keep.

2. The 2020 elections were among the most secure in history, yet claims to the contrary are driving unprecedented levels of legislation.

We have not been opposed to voter ID necessarily, a step to ensure voters are who they say they are, provided it is done right. However, the devil is in the details or, in this case, in Jefferson City.

Done wrong, it could disenfranchise voters. A 2017 analysis found that about 137,700 registered voters in Missouri did not have a state-issued identification. Another 140,000 voters had expired IDs, and 2,000 more voters had forfeited their driver's licenses.

On a positive note, Missouri already does a lot for people who need an ID. The Missouri Department of Revenue provides one non-driver's license photo ID for free to Missourians. Call 573-526-8683, or visit https://dor.mo.gov. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will provide a free exempt copy of a certified Missouri birth certificate to anyone seeking a free nondriver's license photo ID. Call 573-751-6387 or email VitalRecordsInfo@health.mo.gov. And the Missouri Secretary of State will help a person obtain official documents needed to get a Missouri non-driver's license ID, including a birth certificate, marriage license, adoption decree, naturalization papers or court order changing one's name. It also will pay for official documents from other states or the federal government.

But at the same time, we know there are reasons to be wary. A year after Alabama passed a photo ID law to vote, the state proposed closing dozens of driver's licenses offices, citing budget cuts, and many of the closings were in rural areas with large concentrations of poor and minority voters. Coincidence? The decision was soon reversed, and the DMV offices reopened with expanded hours, but only after a public outcry.

We also favor no-excuses absentee voting, and while we are not opposed to giving the secretary of state the power to review voter rolls to make sure they are maintained and updated, we are not eager to give him or her power to withhold funding for local election authorities.

There's a lot at stake in these bills making their way through Missouri and other states. Given how safe the election was, we don't share the urgency that is driving much of this legislation, and we counsel lawmakers to adopt a go-slow approach, taking these bills apart and carefully examining each piece for its ultimate impact.