Voter ID Law - Franklin County Democrats

Browsing Posts tagged Voter ID Law

Legislative Update: Bills Expand Charter Schools and More

January 27, 2012 lloydk 4 comments

Missouri NEA Legislative Update
Week 4, No. 2, January 24, 2012
By Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director

CHARTER SCHOOLS

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee will meet on January 25 to hear HB 1228 (Tishaura Jones), and the Senate Education Committee will meet later that same day to hear SB 576 (Bill Stouffer). Both bills expand the authority for charter schools to cover the entire state, expand the list of entities allowed to sponsor charter schools, create a statewide chartering commission and make several changes designed to improve the accountability and transparency of charter sponsors and charter schools.

The Association believes that charter schools need to meet the same standards of accountability, transparency and respect for the rights of students, parents and staff as apply to district-operated public schools. Currently, serious remedial action is needed to improve that accountability for sponsors and charter schools, and the state should adopt and implement those reforms and verify that they are working to ensure charter schools meet those standards before considering expansion of charter school territory or sponsorship. Accordingly, the Association opposes both bills and will seek to limit charter school legislation to correcting those deficiencies without concurrent expansion of either charter school geography or sponsorship.

Education Desk Charter Schools, Education, Immigration, MNEA, Voter ID Law, whistle-blower, Workplace Discrimination

Education Legislation Update

January 25, 2012 lloydk No comments

Please lend your voice to oppose the legislators’ ongoing efforts with regard to workplace discrimination and whistle-blower law, and Voter ID legislation.

Missouri NEA Legislative Update Week 4, No. 1, January 23, 2012

By Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director

WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION AND WHISTLE-BLOWER LAW

The Senate took up SCS/SB 592 (Brad Lager) for floor debate on January 23, but did not bring the bill to a first round or Perfection vote. After discussing the measure for more than an hour, the Senate placed the bill on the Informal Calendar, a sort of parking lot for legislation that may be brought up again later this year whenever the Senate is in session. Further debate is expected on this bill, perhaps later this week.

The Association opposes SB 592. The bill makes several harmful changes to the state’s anti-discrimination law in employment, disability and housing and significantly limits and weakens “whistle-blower” protections.

Education Desk, FCDBlog Education, Labor Issues, Voter ID Law, whistle-blower, Workplace Discrimination

Missouri Voter ID Mandate Challenged

July 7, 2011 Randy Phillips No comments

The Associated Press

A lawsuit is seeking to strike down a proposed constitutional amendment allowing a photo identification mandate for Missouri voters.

An attorney backing the lawsuit told The Associated Press Thursday that it contends the ballot summary approved by legislators is misleading and asks a judge to block the measure from the 2012 ballot.

Online court records (number 11AC-CC00439) show the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court.

The Republican-led Legislature earlier this year passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow a photo ID mandate and set parameters for a potential early voting period. If voters adopt the amendment, a separate law still would be needed to implement the provisions – and a recent veto from Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon would also hinder the law’s progress.

The proposed amendment seeks to get around a 2006 state Supreme Court ruling that declared a previous photo ID law unconstitutional.

The voter ID laws popping up around the country under the guise of “preventing voter fraud” are part and parcel of the right’s longstanding belief that not everybody should have the right to vote — not because certain people are better than others — although there seems to be an element of racism involved, as E.J. Dionne explains — not because vote fraud is a problem – it isn’t — but because they understand that as the voting populace goes down their chances of maintaining power goes up. We know this because Paul Weyrich, one of the founding members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the ultra-conservative think tank where these ideas originate, came right out and said so in 1980.

Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome — good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

The voter ID mandate is another chilling reminder of just how effective the extreme right has been in moving Weyrich’s voter suppression agenda forward. Hopefully this court challenge will put an end to it in Missouri.

FCDBlog 2012 Election, ALEC, Paul Weyrich, Voter ID Law

Franklin County Democrats

Browsing Posts tagged Voter ID Law

Legislative Update: Bills Expand Charter Schools and More

Education Legislation Update

Missouri Voter ID Mandate Challenged

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