ST. LOUIS — There are several new laws that went into effect in Missouri on Sunday.
The new Missouri Voter ID Law states voters will have to show an unexpired driver’s license or government-issued ID with the voter’s photo and address on it; which means you can’t use a student ID or voter registration card to cast your ballot.
The Missouri League of Women Voters and NAACP have two pending lawsuits against it as they believe this law suppresses voters and restricts registration practices.
The NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt said there are already barriers to securing a photo ID.
“We know that not only seniors but we’ve got people who got divorced and their name changed, it went back to their maiden name. We got people who were born in a period of time where they recorded the birth in their Bible so they don’t have birth certificates. We’ve got people who relocated to the state and all their documentation that’s required to get an ID is somewhere else,” Pruitt said.
Another law that is now in effect, SB775, broadens rights and provides more protection for victims of sexual assault by protecting a victim's email, birth date, health information and information from forensic testing in addition to their address.
“Often in those cases, we know someone is actively trying to harm them. And so when someone’s looking for a way to get at you, they're going to try any and every means, potentially, and so just looking at some of the ways that people have been harmed in the past, we can try to tighten up the law and make things safer for people,” Safe Connections Heidi Siguitan said.
The new law also prevents the use of a victim or witness’ past sexual history during court proceedings and depositions, something Siguitan said has been used in the past to try and create a biased jury.
“I’ve had a client in the past whose social media was used against her and innocent teen images that were kind of flirty were used to portray her and defame her character essentially,” Siguitan said.