JUDGE TOSSES OUT PROPOSED MISSOURI VOTER ID CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

A judge in Missouri vacated the language of a proposed ballot measure backed by Republicans that would amend the state constitution to require voters to present ID. Cole County Circuit Court judge Judge Pat Joyce wrote that the proposed description that would appear on the ballot was “insufficient and unfair.” Joyce’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and a resident. The General Assembly will now have a chance to revise the language. “We are pleased that the court sent a strong statement that respects the voters of Missouri,” the Fair Elections Legal Network, a voting rights group, said in a statement. “Missourians deserve to know what they are being asked to vote on, particularly when a fundamental right, like the right to vote, is at stake.”