“We Are Not the Photo Police” – St. Louis Election Officials Tell Volunteers at Training Session Not to Worry About the New Photo ID Law

On Wednesday, October 19, 2022, there was a training session for Missouri Election Judges. The training was held at the St. Louis Board of Elections Headquarters at 1 PM.

Following the training session several witnesses wrote The Gateway Pundit to share their concern that the election workers will not enforce the new Voter ID law in the state.

The trainers at the session told the workers not to worry about Voter ID adding, “We are not the photo police.”

Missouri passed Voter ID laws this past year.

The Gateway Pundit was able to confirm these reports.

Here are the letters we received from Missouri volunteers after they were told not to check Voter IDs on election day.

Witness #1:

Hi Jim,

In the election judge training class, they use the terminology “photo police” to confuse the judges that the photo is not important. I get that people age, get fat, go bald, change genders. But your facial structure doesn’t really change that much during six yrs, the time period a driver’s license is generally valid. When I show my ID at the airport, to a police officer at a traffic violation stop or a medical office, the person that takes my ID is looking to see if the photo looks like me. The same should be true for voting. What’s to stop me from using my mom‘s drivers license to vote her ballot or my deceased SIL whose unexpired Id is in my possession if I had fraudulent intentions? The new voter ID law as it’s being implemented by STL county would not stop that at all which was the whole purpose of getting photo Id into law. Students can’t use their student ID because there’s no picture on it. Well if we’re not checking for reasonableness wrt the photo in any capacity, what was the point of voter photo id law?

Witness #2

Hi Jim –

The St Louis County Board of elections is deliberately defying the new Missouri photo ID law. A number of us have been in training for poll judge positions where the trainer has said “we are not the photo police” and there is no need to check photos. The trainers continued to say “people change, they gain or lose weight, they have nose jobs, they may be sexually transitioning, we are not the ID police and it is not our job.”

The trainer also added that it is between the voter, who confirms their identity with their signature, and the courts. “Not our job”.

One individual in the training asked if Hillary Clinton walked in with Bill Clinton’s ID would we stop her from voting. The trainer replied that she would be allowed to vote without question. Rick Stream, Director of St Louis County Elections has been notified both in person and via email of this blatant disregard for the law. Rick has ignored our numerous emails and the training has not changed. The Secretary of State’s office has also been notified and no response has been received to date.

One poll worker in training at the St Louis County said she gets that people age, get fat, go bald, change genders. But your facial structure doesn’t really change that much during 6 yrs.

When someone shows their ID at the airport, to a police officer at a traffic violation stop or a medical office, the person that takes the ID is looking to see if the photo looks like that individual. The same should be true for voting.

What’s to stop a person from using their mom‘s drivers license to vote her ballot or even one’s deceased sister in law whose unexpired ID is in their possession. The new voter ID law as it’s being implemented by St. Louis County would not stop that. Wasn’t this the whole purpose of getting photo ID into law. Students can’t use their student ID because there’s no picture on it. The question is if we are not checking for reasonableness of the photo in any capacity, what was the point of voter photo ID law in the first place? This is a clear violation of state law and cannot stand.

Witness #3:

Hello Jim. I was asked to share my experience from a few weeks ago.

I took part in a poll judge training – in person, at the St. Louis County Board of Elections office. The trainer told me/us that we should not check photos (people gain/lose weight, have nose jobs, etc). It is not our job.
Voters sign and verify their signature so it’s between them and the courts – not our job. We are not the photo police. Repeatedly.

Later in the training, she warned of mass (70%) turnout and possible paper jams and talked about possibly needing to access the box of scanned ballots. Furthermore, she told us not to worry if, at the end of the night, our final numbers did not match the scanned ballot numbers. We should not worry about or spend more than 5 minutes trying to reconcile it and let the staff at the office figure it out.

Please contact The Gateway Pundit if you also are told to ignore state law during your training session.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!