A Cole County Circuit judge’s ruling that lifts a statewide ban on paying workers to help people register to vote is creating a potential for voter fraud, according to a local 501(c)4 civil liberties organization.
“The danger is that it's allowing for potential voter fraud because it will allow anybody that is out collecting either voter registrations or requesting voter solicitations…there's no record of who went out there and did this solicitation, in a sense, for 10 or more,” said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO.
Keelin was reacting to Judge Jon Beetem’s decision to dismantle parts of a state law that limits what groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the League of Women Voters of Missouri can do to register and follow up with voters about their absentee ballots.
“This means that there's no one to be held responsible if they sign up people who aren't eligible to vote or if they're not doing the proper requirements for requesting an absentee ballot and so this is where we feel that there’s potential for voter fraud,” he said.
Section 115.022 of HB 1878 states that a voter registration solicitor who solicits more than 10 voter registration applications shall register for every election cycle that begins on the day after the general election and end on the day of the general elections two years later. A voter registration solicitor must also be at least 18 years of age and shall be a registered voter in the state of Missouri. HB 1878 was approved by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Parson earlier this year.
“I don't think there's any harm in or any real drawback too requiring someone to be responsible for the voter registrations that they go out and solicit,” Keelin told the St. Louis Record. “The Secretary of State's office is going to be appealing it probably after the first of the year.”
The law further states that no person shall be paid or otherwise compensated for soliciting voter registration applications, other than a governmental entity or a person who is paid or compensated by a governmental entity for such solicitation.
However, Beetem, in his Oct. 24 court order, said those provisions unconstitutionally limit free speech, according to media reports.
Keelin disagrees.
"All it does is require the person going out and getting the ballots or getting the voters registered to be accountable and make sure that they're not violating election laws when it comes to voter registration, that they're an American citizen, that they're a resident of Missouri, that they're of voting age, that they have a photo ID that says who they are and that they're at the address they say they're in," he said.