Greene County Republicans stripping voting rights
Since our country’s founding, a hallmark of our representative democracy has been the right to vote.
Here in Greene County, Democrats have always honored that principle by working long and hard to register voters and to encourage our legislators to make voting easier.
Now, however, Missouri's Republican-controlled legislature has made voting more difficult and more confusing.
Did you know, for instance, that it is now illegal for you, as a citizen, to register 10 or more citizens to vote unless you first enroll with the Missouri Secretary of State as a “solicitor?” If you fail to register as a “solicitor," you are subject to arrest.
And imagine this: It’s now illegal for you, or your neighbors, or the Greene County Democrats, to distribute request forms for absentee ballots. When citizens stop by our office for assistance, all we can do is tell them to contact the county clerk for more information on how to vote absentee. At the risk of permanently losing our right to vote, we cannot legally help citizens navigate the often-confusing process of obtaining an absentee ballot.
This is not the way things should be. Voting in many other states has become easier, not harder. Our legislature has overreached. These are draconian measures.
Republican legislators who voted for these changes claim we need restrictions to prevent voter fraud. Really? After the 2020 election, Missouri’s secretary of state confirmed that we had no voter fraud in Missouri.
Even though our courts on several occasions have struck down requirements that voters present certain forms of identification in order to vote, guess what? The legislature has done it again, passing another version of photo ID that the non-partisan League of Women Voters calls “unnecessarily strict.” The new requirement requires a federal or state-issued photo ID that is "either not expired or expired after the date of the most recent general election.” (Huh?)
To affirm our commitment to voter registration, Greene County Democrats earlier this year undertook a major effort to reach thousands of citizens who are eligible but not registered to vote. Our work would have continued, but the new legislation, effective as of August 28, thwarted our effort.
Who knows how many additional Greene County residents might have voted, perhaps for the first time, as a result of our efforts?
There seems to be little question that the Missouri legislature’s Republican majority is engaged in efforts to restrict voter access and thereby deny citizens of their basic right to participate in representative democracy.
On the other hand, we, as Greene County Democrats, uphold this most basic right of all Missourians.
Lanae Gillespie, chair, Greene County Democrats and Jeff Munzinger, vice-chair
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Voting rights are a fundamental part of representative democracy
