Nearly every year during the past decade, the Missouri General Assembly has tried to pass, or has passed, a strict voter photo identification requirement. And every year, the legislation either gets stopped somewhere in the legislative process or a court rules it unconstitutional.

Supporters of such legislation are at it again this year. They claim, as they have for the past decade, our elections are at risk because of the possibility of rampant voter impersonation fraud. But the truth is that there hasn't been a reported case of voter impersonation fraud in Missouri. That's not my opinion; it's a fact that even the sponsor of this year's bill confirmed in a recent hearing.

So this yearly crusade can't actually be about voter impersonation fraud because everyone agrees Missouri hasn't had a case of it.

If this were really about voter impersonation fraud, supporters of this legislation would be fine allowing voters who no longer drive to use their expired driver's licenses, recently returned veterans to use their expired military identification cards or students to use their student identification cards. All those forms of photo ID are just as accurate at proving a voter's identity as a current Missouri driver's license, yet none of them would be good enough under the proposal being debated right now in Jefferson City.

If this were really about voter impersonation fraud, supporters of this legislation would fully fund my office's elections integrity unit, which I established last year as the only unit of state government with the singular focus of combating election issues.

You can visit www.sos.mo.gov/integrity to see the important work the unit has done in just a year.

And if this were really about voter impersonation fraud, supporters of this legislation would take a closer look at Senate Bill 728, legislation I drafted with Sen. Scott Sifton to dramatically increase penalties for committing election fraud. If the risk of getting caught stealing one vote in an election is going to jail, I think most people will think twice about committing that crime.

This is not about voter impersonation fraud; it's an extreme measure for a problem that hasn't occurred in Missouri.

About 220,000 registered Missouri voters don't have the very specific form of photo identification that would be required under the legislation being considered this year. That's 220,000 eligible voters who would need to find a way to get an ID they don't currently have � just to legally vote as they have many times before.

I know most people think having to show a non-expired driver's license to vote isn't a huge burden. That's because most people have driver's licenses.

And, yes, if you have this form of identification, it obviously isn't hard to bring it to your polling place.

But what about the people who don't? Not all eligible voters have a current driver's license, and it should not be harder for them to enjoy the same constitutional rights as the rest of us.

As secretary of state, and previously as a captain in the U.S. Army, I have been committed to protecting our democracy.

Trying to stop 220,000 eligible Missourians from voting doesn't protect our democracy, but it weakens the integrity of our elections.