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Ashcroft: Battle is not over on Missouri’s voter ID law

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Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wants the Legislature to fight a Supreme Court ruling this week about the state’s voter ID law. Missouri’s high court has ruled that language used in a sworn statement is misleading and unconstitutional. Voters without an ID at the polls were required to sign the statement to confirm to their identity.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (2017 photo)

“I think that we are going to have to ask the Legislature to move forward on this,” says Ashcroft. “It looks to me like the Supreme Court is setting up a confrontation between the Supreme Court on one side, the Legislature, the Executive branch, and the Constitution as approved by the people on the other hand. And that really concerns me.”

In 2016, voters passed a constitutional amendment, Amendment 6, by a 63% margin which allowed the state to make a law requiring voters to identify themselves with IDs that “may” include valid government-issued photo identification.

“It is no longer unconstitutional in the state of Missouri to present photo ID to vote and yet our court is saying that it is,” says Ashcroft. “Anytime we have a government entity that ignores the will of the people properly expressed through the Constitution of the state, we have a problem. The role of the judiciary is not to say what the law should be. If you’re a judge and you want to spend your time saying what the law should be, run for the Legislature.”

Voter advocacy organization Priorities USA sued the state and said expert testimony in the trial has confirmed that voters would need a graduate level degree to understand the statement language.

The 5-2 judgement also bars the Secretary of State’s office from distributing information saying a photo ID is required to vote. Judges Brent Powell and Zel Fischer were the dissenting votes.

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Missouri Supreme Court upholds lower court’s ruling about voter ID law

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In a 5-2 ruling today, the Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling about the state requiring a photo ID at the polls. The high court says a Cole County Court was right to strike down a state requirement making voters without a photo ID sign a statement swearing they are who they say they are.

The Missouri Supreme Court

In 2016, voters passed a constitutional amendment, Amendment 6, by a 63 percent margin which allowed the state to make a law requiring voters to identify themselves with IDs that “may” include valid government-issued photo identification. Left-leaning group Priorities USA sued the state arguing the statement language is confusing.

In 2018, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan called the affidavit language contradictory and misleading and ruled to get rid of it. Today, the Supreme Court agreed.

The judgement also bars the Secretary of State’s office from distributing information saying a photo ID is required to vote.

Senator Jill Schupp, a Democrat from the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur, hopes the ruling will put the longtime Republican voter ID effort to rest.

“I’m delighted that the people’s votes will be protected and that this law was shot down by the Supreme Court. We move forward and we try to protect our elections and try to make sure everybody’s vote counts,” says Schupp. “We have three co-equal branches of government and each of them need to be respected. So, I’m hopefully that the Legislature will understand the Supreme Court’s basis for their judgement and we’ll move forward and allow people to take advantage of their right to vote.”

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican, also responded to the court ruling.

Judges Brent Powell and Zel Fischer were the dissenting votes.

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Will impeachment course hurt Democrats or Republicans in 2020? Missouri political scientist says it’s hard to tell

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A Southeast Missouri State University political scientist in Cape Girardeau says whether the presidential impeachment process will hurt Democrats or Republicans in 2020 is hard to tell. Dr. Laura Hatcher says history shows the GOP and Democratic parties do not get destroyed by an impeachment trial, like some claim.

Laura Hatcher – Assistant Professor – Political Science, Philosophy and Religion Studies

“We’re a year out away from the election and a lot of things can happen,” says Hatcher. “I think the economy is usually the bigger issue. When Clinton was impeached, the House Republicans at that time had some unfavorables but you notice we had a Republican president not too long thereafter.”

Hatcher says dragging out the process into next summer could impact votes, but she does not expect lawmakers to go that far.

“The further away the impeachment and trial are from the actual election, the more likely there will be an intervening set of variables, like the economy or another war. I mean, you just never know what’s going to happen,” says Hatcher.

Some analysts have questioned why Democrats have not broadened their probe to include evidence gathered in Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“I think the Mueller report – there was plenty of possible evidence of wrongdoing but if the Democrats are thinking about this in terms of having a simple, clear case, the Mueller report would muck up their waters pretty quickly. Whereas, if they can keep this narrow and relatively simple, they have a better chance – even if they lose in the Senate – of being able to make use of the evidence down the road,” Hatcher says.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have their main talking points and have been regularly pointing fingers at the other side when it comes to the president’s actions with Ukraine and the testimony that has unfolded.

“Vetting the evidence, getting it all out there can be helpful, but when things are complicated or hard to understand, it’s easier to make fodder out of it later on,” she says.

Hatcher encourages Missourians to read multiple news sources from different ideological spectrums – not social media – to assess evidence about the President’s handling of federal aid to Ukraine in exchange for a political favor.

“What I mean by that is, you should probably read both the Washington Times and the Washington Post. Or, the Washington Examiner and the New York Times,” says Hatcher. “Just take a quick look and see what they have to say – not the editorials and not the columnists – but rather the hard news summaries about what’s going on.”

She also says c-span.org offers featured video clips summarizing the impeachment hearings.

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Will gas tax proposal make it to the ballot in 2020? Missouri legislator not so sure

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Since 2020 is a major election year, the chance of a proposed gas tax hike making it to the ballot might have an uphill battle. State Representative Chuck Bayse, R-Rocheport, hopes that’s not the case.

Photo courtesy of MoDOT

“Something that is very disappointing to me is when I hear folks in leadership say that we can’t do that because it’s an election year,” Basye tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly. “But, I’m afraid that’s going to be the fate this year – I might be wrong. But, I would love to see us put forth a significant proposal for a fuel tax and get that in front of the people.”

Last November, Missouri voters rejected a proposed 10 cent gas tax increase that would have raised the state’s 17 cent gasoline tax for the first time in more than 20 years.

“The constituents that I serve three times now overwhelmingly favor a gas tax proposal and one that would be very easily read, not to be confused with a lot of other information involved like the last ballot issue,” Basye says.

Passage of the measure Basye is referring to would have helped to fund maintenance to Missouri’s roads and bridges, among other things.

“The last ballot issue we had, ya know, we had the law enforcement language and the Olympic medal tied into that same thing,” says Basye. “They would like to see a stand-alone gas tax proposal that would go to roads and bridges only.”

Prefiling of bills starts December 1 for the next session of the Missouri Legislature beginning in January.

By Bob Ehle of Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Missouri U.S. House members prepare for start of public impeachment hearings

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The U.S. House plans to hold its first public impeachment hearings next week in an investigation of President Donald Trump. Three U.S. diplomats who expressed alarm about Trump’s conversation with Ukraine will serve as star witnesses in next week’s hearings.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler

West-central Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler says the impeachment process has been secretive.

“I didn’t think that there’s enough evidence to warrant an impeachment process to begin with but that the process was really a sham that has been going on,” she says.

Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, says most Republicans have been left out of the process.

“We have been denied, as members of Congress, the ability to even see the transcripts,” says Hartzler. “The president hasn’t been provided due process of having the ability to be there or his counsel to be there to cross-examine witnesses, to subpoena and call new witnesses.”

Democrats maintain they have adopted the same procedures that were used during the impeachment inquiries of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

East-central Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, and other GOP leaders call it a Soviet-style process.

“This process that they approved is nothing more than verifying the process that they’ve done so far, which is to prohibit the president from being able to defend himself and have access to due process, which is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and guaranteed under previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings,” Luetkemeyer tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly.

In Judiciary Committee, Trump’s lawyers will get evidence and staff reports and can question witnesses, submit evidence and give a presentation. But the committee chairman can limit the president calling or questioning witnesses if the White House does not release documents or allow witnesses to testify.

Luetkemeyer says the President has done nothing that would justify impeachment.

“I don’t believe, but if you would believe that there was a quid pro quo, there is in law, a 2014 law with subsequent directives from the National Defense Authorization Act to request and require the president to withhold or leverage foreign aid with regards to trying to stop corruption in the Ukraine. If you believe that he did this as a quid pro quo, he’s actually doing his job,” says Luetkemeyer.

Critics say Trump dangled $400 million in security aid over the head of Ukraine’s president in an attempt to help Trump win re-election next year. They say Trump abused his presidential powers by pressuring Volodymyr Zelensky into digging up dirt on likely Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Gunby beats Pitman in Missouri House seat pickup for Democrats

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Democrats are celebrating Tuesday’s election of Manchester’s Trish Gunby to the Missouri House, in a pickup of a seat formerly held by a key Republican.

Renovation work continues at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City (2019 file photo)

Gunby received 3,357 votes to beat Ballwin Republican Lee Ann Pitman, who received 2,855 votes. The district, which is in west St. Louis County, was formerly held by Missouri Republican Party executive director Jean Evans.

Lawmakers in both parties traveled to the suburban district to campaign for their respective candidates, and Governor Mike Parson (R) also knocked on doors for Pitman.

Democrats won five of the six special elections on Tuesday. Four of those five seats are in strong Democratic districts, but Gunby’s race was a priority for both parties.

The other newly-elected state representatives are:

** Democrat Rasheen Aldridge, in St. Louis’ 78th district. He was unopposed and will replace former State Rep. Bruce Franks, D-St. Louis.
** Shell Knob Republican Scott Cupps, who defeated Cassville Democrat Lisa Kalp in southwest Missouri’s 158th district. It includes Barry County and small parts of Stone and Lawrence counties. Cupps will replace former State Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, who’s now the state treasurer.
** Democrat Yolanda Young in the 22nd district, which includes Kansas City and parts of Jackson County. Young defeated Republican Tammy Louise Herrera and Green Party nominee Jeff Francis. Young will replace former State Rep. Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, who’s now a Kansas City Councilman.
** Democrat Mark Sharp in Kansas City’s 36th district. He defeated Green Party candidate Roberta Voorhees, and will replace former State Rep. DaRon McGee, D-Kansas City.
** Democrat Mike Person in north St. Louis County’s 74th district. He beat Libertarian Nicholas (Nick) Kasoff, and will replace former State Rep. Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson.

The newly-elected state representatives are expected to be sworn-in when the 2020 legislative session starts in January.

Republicans will control the Missouri House 114-48 in January, with one vacancy.

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Six Missouri House seats to be filled in special elections on Tuesday

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Voters across the state in six legislative districts will head to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots in races for the Missouri House.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City (file photo)

Republicans currently control the House 113-43, with seven vacancies.

Governor Mike Parson called Tuesday’s special election to fill six seats, due to the resignations this year of State Reps. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, Jean Evans, R-Manchester, Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, DaRon McGee, D-Kansas City, Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson and Bruce Franks Jr., D-St. Louis.

Of the six seats on Tuesday’s ballot, one is uncontested: Democrat Rasheen Aldridge will be the next State Representative to replace Representative Franks. The district is entirely in St. Louis City. Franks resigned this summer, after an emotional House floor speech in May about his struggle with anxiety and depression. Franks received a bipartisan standing ovation, after that speech.

Three of the other districts are Democratic strongholds, one is a GOP stronghold and another is getting attention from both parties.

Lawmakers in both parties have been canvassing in the 99th district in St. Louis County, a seat formerly held by Representative Evans. Republican Lee Ann Pitman of Ballwin is facing Democrat Trish Gunby of Manchester. This will be the most closely-watched race on Tuesday. Evans won re-election to the House last November but resigned in January to become the Missouri Republican Party’s executive director.

In southwest Missouri’s Barry County and small parts of Stone and Lawrence counties, voters will choose between Republican Scott Cupps of Shell Knob and Cassville Democrat Lisa Kalp, to replace now-Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick won re-election to a fourth House term last November. However, Governor Parson appointed Fitzpatrick as State Treasurer in December, and Fitzpatrick was sworn-in in January, after Eric Schmitt was appointed as Attorney General.

In Kansas City, voters Tuesday will decide between Democrat Yolanda Young, Republican Tammy Louise Herrera and Green Party nominee Jeff Francis in the race for Ellington’s former House seat. Ellington, the House Minority Whip, resigned from the House this summer, after being elected to the Kansas City Council. This district also includes parts of Jackson County.

In Kansas City’s 36th House district, voters will decide between Democrat Mark Sharp and Green Party candidate Roberta Voorhees for a seat formerly held by Representative McGee. He resigned in April, after allegations of sexual harassment against a former staffer.

In St. Louis County’s 74th District, voters will choose between Democrat Mike Person and Libertarian Nicholas (Nick) Kasoff for a seat formerly held by Representative Walker, who resigned this summer to become St. Louis County’s policy director.

The winners of the races are expected to be sworn-in in January, when the 2020 legislative session begins in Jefferson City.

The seventh House vacancy will be filled at a special election, at a later date. State Rep. Rebecca Roeber, R-Lee’s Summit, died in July. She suffered serious injuries in a March head-on collision on Highway 50 in west-central Missouri’s Syracuse.

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Missouri’s delegation votes along party lines on Trump impeachment rules

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U.S. President Donald Trump motions to the crowds as he exits Air Force One upon his arrival at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport in St. Louis on March 14, 2018. Trump is in St. Louis for a roundtable meeting with Boeing officials and to attend a fund raising dinner for U.S. Senate hopeful, Missouri Attorney General, Josh Hawley. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Missouri’s delegation voted today along party lines in passing a resolution that lays out the process for the public phase in the impeachment investigation of President Trump. No Republicans voted in favor of the measure and two Democrats, one from Minnesota and one from New Jersey, opposed the resolution. The measure passed 232 to 196.

The inquiry involves whether Trump crossed the line in a conversation with Ukraine’s president. Critics say Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to get dirt on likely Democratic presidential opponent Joe Biden.

Trump alleges that Biden tried to interfere in a Ukrainian prosecutor’s investigation of a gas company there that Biden’s son has ties to. He calls the allegations a witch hunt. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, vigorously defends Trump and says he has zero problems with the conversation the president had.

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Libla: a user tax for Missouri transportation is still a conservative position (AUDIO)

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The chairman of the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee supports a gasoline tax increase, saying that our roads and bridges must be funded adequately.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor on January 10, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Senate photographer Harrison Sweazea)

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, chairs the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety committee. He tells Missourinet we’ve funded roads and bridges for 95 years in Missouri with a gas tax.

“Back in the day when I first became a Republican, a user tax was a conservative Republican position,” Libla says. “And I still believe so today. I think those who use the roads should help pay for them.”

Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gas tax has remained the same since 1996. Voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase in November.

Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) notes Missouri has the seventh-largest infrastructure system, but ranks 49th in funding.

Libla, who represents eight southeast Missouri counties, emphasizes that local officials help to decide key projects.

“We have planning commissions all over this state, so it’s not just a few people deciding where a new road or a new intersection goes in or a new four-lane or whatever,” says Libla.

He says transportation is critical for both urban and rural residents, noting Missouri’s $88 billion agricultural industry is the state’s top industry.

Meantime, Chairman Libla says the heavily-traveled stretch of Highway 50 between California and Sedalia in mid-Missouri needs to be four-laned. He says it’s similar to some highways in his sprawling district.

“It’s two-lane, you have some people wanting to drive the speed limit, you have some who want to drive 15 mile (per hour) under it. And you get a lot of backup, people get impatient, so on and so forth,” Libla says.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) included the Highway 50 project from California to Sedalia in the August 2014 ballot measure known as Amendment 7, which was defeated at the polls. At that time, MoDOT estimated it would cost $122 million to four-lane that stretch.

MoDOT also notes that the central district planning partners have identified the next segment of Highway 50 as an unfunded priority. The segment, which is from California to Tipton, would cost about $44 million.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, which was recorded at the State Fair in Sedalia on August 15, 2019:

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Missouri Supreme Court ponders whether voter ID law’s sworn statement should stay or go

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The State Supreme Court is deciding whether voters without a photo ID must sign a statement at the polls swearing they are who they say they are.

The Missouri Supreme Court

Last year, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan called the statement language contradictory and misleading and ruled to get rid of it in Missouri’s controversial 2016 voter ID law. The state appealed the ruling, leading to Thursday’s hearing before Missouri’s high court.

Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the court should let the Secretary of State change the writing, instead of scrapping the affidavit altogether.

“There was no evidence at trial of any individual voter who claimed that they were confused by the option 2 affidavit or found it contradictory,” said Sauer.

During the trial, two voters testified that they would not have signed the affidavit again because the language was confusing. Sauer said they still voted.

Attorney Mark Elias, for the left-leaning voter advocacy organization called Priorities USA, said expert testimony in the trial confirmed that voters would need a graduate level degree to understand the language.

“The Secretary of State promulgated this affidavit because this is what’s in the statute,” he says. “There is no affidavit the Secretary of State would be able to write under its limited grant authority that would not suffer the same problems.”

Sauer said if the court rules in favor of having the language rewritten, the issue will probably face another lawsuit anyways.

Under state law, Missourians can vote if they show a photo ID at their polling place. They can show another form of identification, including a utility bill, but must sign the affidavit. They can also cast a provisional ballot. Their vote would only count if they return to show ID or if poll workers can match their signatures on a past ballot.

The court could rule at any time.

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