Voting

Hey, surprise -- the Missouri anti-voting law died. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, via Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog:

“This proposal not passing is a victory for voter’s rights. This debate has not been about having Missouri voters identify themselves at the polls. In Missouri, we already have common sense identification requirements in place. This debate has been about ensuring fair elections, and elections can not be fair if eligible voters are not allowed to make their voice heard on Election Day.

These past two weeks we heard from Missouri voters across the state that feared they would lose their right to vote because they don’t have a government-issued photo ID or a birth certificate, and I am glad the legislature didn’t put their right to vote at risk. The hard work of citizens and groups around this state who opposed this proposal played a key role in making sure this legislation was not passed.”

Sudbay goes on to note that the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a voter ID law in 2006, citing the burden it placed on eligible Missourians rights to vote -- unlike SCOTUS, which apparently doesn't believe the right of Americans to choose their own government. (Didn't our pal Tony Scalia make some comment about there being no right to vote for president enumerated in the Constitution? Typical right-wing double-talk: he's strictly speaking correct, but that doesn't abrogate the right to vote for the people who are going to choose the president, which is in the Constitution.)

(I should point out that voters in Chicago are asked for ID at the polls. State IDs are easy to get if you have a morning to spend -- the usual bureaucratic lines, although it actually doesn't take so long -- and are free for seniors. I'm not sure what provision is made for the poor.)

Another bit of good news for free elections in the U.S.: Hans von Spakovsky has withdrawn his name from consideration as chairman of the FEC:

President Bush’s contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a stalemate that had paralyzed the agency.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who never had Democratic support to win confirmation, withdrew his nomination, saying it was time for the protracted deadlock to end.

Harry Reid finally showed some spine:

I welcome the President’s decision to withdraw the controversial nomination of Mr. von Spakovsky. It is an action I have repeatedly urged the President to take for more than six months. Democrats stood united in their opposition to von Spakovsky because of his long and well-documented history of working to suppress the rights of minorities and the elderly to vote. He was not qualified to hold any position of trust in our government.

Reid was quoted elsewhere as saying that von Spakovsky's confirmation was not going to happen.