From The Archives: Harvard Law and Policy Review

The Missouri Legislature’s Campaign Against the Missouri Constitution

Frank Housh, September 29, 2011

Author’s Note: This was written in 2011 during my time when I was regular columnist at the Harvard Law and Policy Review.

Having been born in Missouri, I know that a century and a half ago people like me died fighting for the right to vote.  Today, the forces seeking to suppress the popular vote come to the heartland not in the form of guerrilla raiding parties but the Missouri Legislature itself, which has engaged in a five-year effort to disenfranchise thousands of their their own citizens.  In the end, what may defeat them are the unique voter protections enshrined in the 19th Century Missouri Constitution, protections purchased at the cost of so much blood.

Despite the fact that documented instances of “imposter voting” are essentially non-existent, a number of  states have recently put in place schemes to disenfranchise voters who cannot produce a valid, photo identification at the polling place.  

Missouri is an interesting exception to this trend, a…