MOVPC update on the near week-long photo ID trial
Shared via email by the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition on Nov. 27, 2023:
Missouri Voter Protection Coalition and ACLU of Missouri lead a nearly-week long trial this past week on behalf of Missouri NAACP, League of Women Voters and individual plaintiffs challenging the state's Photo ID Law. Parties return to court on Dec. 7 for the final remaining state's witness and closing arguments.
Trial began Fri. Nov. 17, with compelling testimony from Christine Dragonette and Sara Ruiz, who run ID Access clinics, and who spoke of the numerous barriers faced by their clients to obtaining IDs. The court also heard from Plaintiff Kimberly Morgan, whose birth certificate is misspelled and who lacks the underlying documents or funds to get it corrected. She previously voted with her voter identification card, which has her name correctly spelled. On Monday, Plaintiffs' expert witness Dr. Lorraine Minnite - the nation's leading expert on voter fraud - described her exhaustive research into Missouri's voting irregularities that revealed not one instance of voter impersonation fraud; and Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Kenneth Mayer spoke of the variety of systemic burdens imposed by the law and range of misinformation from election officials. The court also heard from Plaintiff Rene Powell, who, fresh from brain surgery several days prior, testified to her burdens getting to the DMV to renew her expired ID. On Tuesday, the court heard from expert Dr. Linton Mohammad, one of the nation's foremost forensic handwriting analysts, who described the lack of training or standardization of the signature matching protocol for voters without ID who cast provisional ballots; and the court also heard from Marilyn McLeod, President of the Missouri League of Women Voters and Rod Chapel, President of the Missouri NAACP. Plaintiff John O'Connor, 90. was recovering from COVID and unable to testify. The State then began its case, offering two local election officials, two witnesses from Department of Revenue, and a representative of the Secretary of State's Office. The state's final witness will take the stand upon parties' return to court on Dec. 7.
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