Missouri expected to OK tough voter ID standards

The battle over voting rights will expand this week when lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow elections officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. The measure is a far more rigorous demand than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which Indiana voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card.

Sponsors of the amendment - which would then require the approval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum - say it would prevent illegal immigrants from affecting the political process, but critics say it could disenfranchise tens of thousands of legal residents who would find it difficult to prove their citizenship.