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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Missourians Could Vote on Election Reform

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009   

Jefferson City, MO – While Missouri is contemplating a constitutional amendment to require a government-issued photo ID to vote, a new report argues that there are already too many obstacles when it comes to voting, with the result that millions of people are left out of the democratic process.

Julie Burkhart, executive director of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, says the type of reform Missouri is pushing for will disenfranchise low-income, disabled and minority voters, who are least likely to have a picture ID.

"And this system does not need to be fixed. It is already a well-functioning system in this state."

The report from Women's Voices, Women Vote finds that 79 million eligible adults nationwide were shut out of the process during the last Presidential election. Proponents say government-issued photo IDs will prevent election fraud, while others, such as Burkhart, agree that election reform is needed, but caution that not all election reform legislation favors the growing and diverse American electorate.

President Page Gardner of Women's Voices, Women Vote says one way to ensure eligible voters have an opportunity to vote is to expand early and absentee voting to give them more flexibility in casting their ballots.

"This is one of the best measures to adopt, making it easier, particularly for people whose lives are stretched and stressed, to exercise their right to vote."

The election reform legislation that would require a government-issued photo ID is awaiting action in the Missouri House. If it passes, it moves on to the Senate in this final week of the legislative session, then would go on to the voters in 2010.

To access the Women's Voices, Women Vote report go to www.wvwv.org.



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