JEFFERSON CITY — Republicans who control the Missouri Legislature gave themselves two issues to campaign on heading into the 2022 election season Thursday.
In the House, lawmakers granted final approval to legislation that would again require voters to have a photo ID card to cast ballots as part of the GOP’s largely debunked narrative that there is rampant election fraud.
At the same time, they included language targeting transgender athletes born as males who want to play girls sports, even though there is no evidence that the issue has been a problem in Missouri.
People are also reading…
Democrats decried the election year maneuvering by Republicans.
Rep. , D-Hillsdale, said the legislation is being “used as political fodder at the expense of young people.â€
“It is disgusting,†added Rep. , D-Kansas City. “Misogyny is alive and well in this building. I’m just really, really disappointed.â€
would allow voters without IDs to cast a provisional ballot. Their vote would only count if the voter returned to the polling place with a photo ID or if an election judge can match a voter’s signature to one on file.
Missouri voters in 2016 amended the Constitution to allow lawmakers to require photo identification to vote. But the Missouri Supreme Court in 2020 permanently blocked a central provision of the 2016 law that required voters who lacked a photo ID to make a sworn statement in order to cast a regular ballot.
In response, Republicans have been trying to pass a new voter ID bill that is similar to the 2016 law but doesn’t include the sworn statement provision that the judges found objectionable.
The so-called “voting integrity†plan, which was sent to the Senate on a 96-47 vote, also would authorize the Secretary of State to audit voter registration lists and require election authorities to remove improper names.
Those provisions mirror Republican talking points that surfaced after the 2020 election that saw former President Donald Trump lose reelection amid his claims that the election was stolen from him.
Trump easily won Missouri in 2020, earning nearly 57% of the vote. No allegations of fraud marred the outcome.
“Believe it or not, this bill is about elections,†said Rep. , R-Carrollton, who is a former county clerk.
In putting the final version of the bill together earlier this week, Rep. , R-Rocheport, successfully added language allowing voters within a school district to decide if transgender athletes born as males can play in female sports.
The House Thursday also gave final approval, on a 95-46 vote, on that would require transgender students to compete on teams that match the “biological sex†listed on their birth certificates.
Democratic Rep. of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, who is gay, said the bill creates a talking point for Republicans out of a virtually nonexistent issue.
“There are less than 10 children in this state that this bill will affect,†Mackey said.
Both bills head to the Senate, where Democrats have promised to filibuster legislation that attacks transgender youth.
A couple hours later, a bill sponsored by Sen. , R-Ash Grove, kicked off a Senate filibuster. The proposal brought up for first-round approval Thursday would prohibit transgender girls from participating in middle school, high school and postsecondary women’s sports, removing state funding from any schools out of compliance.
Democratic senators holding the Senate floor to stall the measure echoed many of the sentiments expressed not long before in the House.
“The far right wing in our country has always used the LGBT community as a social dividing issue during election years,†said Sen. , D-Kansas City, before launching into a robust retelling of the gay rights movement in the U.S.
Grace Zokovitch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.