Missouri social service workers ordered to help clients register to vote

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By MARK MORRIS The Kansas City Star

A federal judge in Jefferson City has ordered a Missouri social service agency to meet its voter registration responsibilities for low-income clients.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN, sued the Missouri Department of Social Services in April, alleging that it had failed to help low-income and disabled clients register to vote, as required by federal law.

The national “motor-voter” law requires such agencies to provide clients with voter registration assistance.

In her preliminary injunction issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey ordered the department to begin offering voter registration assistance as required by law. Laughrey also dismissed state claims that offering such help would detract from meeting other client needs.

“(The department’s) unsubstantiated claims as to resource scarcity do not outweigh the explicit Congressional purpose of removing barriers to voting,” Laughrey wrote.

Laughrey also ordered the department to notify its employees of its voter registration responsibilities within five days and devise a monitoring system to count client visits and offers of voter registration.

http://www.kansascity.com/679/story/707509.html