A bill expanding the use of mail-in ballots in Missouri during the COVID-19 pandemic passed the legislature even after Secretary of State Jay Aschcroft criticized the bill for failing to include a fix to the state's voter identification law.
Existing law allows voters to mail in ballots only if they are out of town or sick, St. Louis Today reported. Senate Bill 631 expands illness to include anyone 65 and older, living in a nursing home or with chronic illnesses such as asthma or diabetes or if their immune system is compromised.
The legislation, which covers only the August and November statewide elections, originally included a fix to the state's photo ID law for voting, but that was taken out of the final version of the bill, St. Louis Today reported. Ashcroft opposed removing the voter ID changes. The voter identification requirement was passed in 2016 but partially overturned by the state's Supreme Court in January.
“No bill at all is better than passing bad legislation with permanent consequences," Ashcroft told the St. Louis Record. “I am a strong proponent of voter ID and I'm disappointed that provision was not included in SB 631, but as we always do, we will implement and follow the law.”
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the League of Women Voters have sued to give people sheltering in place during the pandemic the right to vote by mail, St. Louis Today reported. Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, supported SB 631.
“This was a late developing sort of thing that we felt, you know, was worthy of a last-minute push,” Rowden told St. Louis Today.
But another Republican senator, Bob Onder of St. Louis, expressed concern about voter fraud.
“I don’t like the idea that the voter ID fix was taken out of this," he told St. Louis Today. "I have problems with a law that touches on our most sacred right.”