Senate Begins Debating Voter Registration Bill

The Senate has started work on a bill that would make sure people who vote in Missouri are American citizens. Senator Larry Gene Taylor of Shell Knob says nine of the 18 terrorists who crashed airplanes in September of 2001 were registered voters but were not American citizens. He wants people to have to show a birth certificate and a marriage license if their name is different from what it is on the birth certificate, or some other proof of United States citizenship. But St. Louis Senator Joan Bray says the bill sends a message that the state thinks potential voters are liars because it eliminates the law saying people can register just by swearing they are citizens. Taylor says the present system is lax…and needs to be improved. Bray says his plan hurts college students, is a burden to married women, and kills door-to-door registration. Taylor says people have to go to more inconvenience every time they re-license a vehicle – and that’s every two years or so – not once in a lifetime. Taylor has had to put his bill aside because of a shortage of debate time. It’s not clear if there’s enough time in this session to bring it back to the floor and get all the way through the Legislature this year.