Missouri is the latest front in the Republican Party's campaign
to use photo ID requirements to suppress voting. The Republican
legislators who pushed through Missouri's ID law earlier this
year said they wanted to deter fraud, but that claim falls apart
on close inspection. Missouri's new ID rules -- and similar ones
adopted last year in Indiana and Georgia -- are intended to
deter voting by blacks, poor people and other groups that are
less likely to have driver's licenses. Georgia's law has been
blocked by the courts, and the others should be too.  Even
before Missouri passed its new law, it had tougher ID
requirements than many states. Voters were required, with
limited exceptions, to bring ID with them to the polls, but
university ID cards, bank statements mailed to a voter's
address, and similar documents were acceptable. The new law
requires a government-issued photo ID, which as many as 200,000
Missourians do not have.  Missourians who have driver's licenses
will have little trouble voting, but many w