Missouri Senate Passes Photo ID Requirement for Voting

The Republican-led Missouri state Senate on Monday voted 23-11 to pass a bill that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls.

The measure now heads back to the GOP-led House to review Senate changes. The deadline to pass legislation is Friday.

The bill would allow voters without valid identification to cast provisional ballots, which would not be counted unless those voters return the same day with proper IDs or election authorities verify their signatures.

Valid forms of ID under the bill include nonexpired driver's licenses, nondriver's licenses, and other government-issued photo IDs.

The Missouri Supreme Court in 2020 permanently blocked a central provision of a 2016 law that required voters who lacked a photo ID to make a sworn statement in order to cast a regular, non-provisional ballot.

In response, Republicans have been trying to pass a new voter ID bill that is similar to the 2016 law but does not include the sworn statement provision.

The legislation also would ban private donations to fund elections, with the exception of some in-kind donations such as water or face masks for election workers.

The bill also includes a Democrat-sponsored amendment to allow no-excuse absentee voting up to two weeks before the date of an election.