The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected legislation that made it harder for groups like the League of Women Voters to conduct voter registration drives.
The high court on Tuesday ruled that parts of a 2022 elections law were "facially unconstitutional restrictions on core political speech," and left in place a lower court ruling that permanently blocked their enforcement.
Also on Tuesday, the high court ruled that groups who had challenged the state's voter photo ID law did not have the legal authority to file suit. The court did not address the questions of whether the law was unconstitutional.
Third-party registration limits
In the last week of the 2022 legislative session, the state House on a party line vote approved a massive elections bill. It included provisions that blocked groups like the League of Women Voters and the Missouri NAACP from paying people to conduct voter registration drives. It also required any person who solicited more than 10 voter registration applications to register with the state. The law also forbid anyone from encouraging people to vote absentee.
The League and the NAACP sued. A lower court found the provisions unconstitutional, and the state appealed.
Writing for the majority, Judge Mary Russell noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had previously found that circulating petitions was core political speech, which requires the highest level of protection.
"Encouraging others to vote is pure speech and, as core First Amendment activity, is entitled to the same protection as the circulation of an initiative petition. Discussion of whether to register to vote and participate in the democratic process is a matter of societal concern," she said.
Nimrod Chapel, the president of the NAACP, said the organization was thrilled with the ruling.
"You tried to criminalize free speech, our ability to encourage others to engage in good citizenship, which is voting at its core," he said.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Ginger Gooch wrote that her colleagues had misinterpreted the definition of the word solicit, which she said was intended to apply only to those who both distribute and collect voter registration forms.
Voter photo ID
That 2022 legislation also reinstated Missouri's requirement that voters show an approved form of photo identification. The NAACP and the League sued, along with three Missourians who argued that the new requirements placed an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.
The court ruled Tuesday that none of the parties had the legal authority to bring the lawsuit. They did not decide whether the law was constitutional.
Denise Lieberman, an attorney with the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said she was "disappointed that the Missouri Supreme Court concluded, against its prior rulings, that voters and their advocates lack the ability to bring challenges to discriminatory photo ID laws."
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