Issue Position: Document Fraud

Issue Position

Current Missouri statutes for voters' registration, entitlement qualifications, and candidate verifications are currently too lenient and have been left open to broad interpretation. When coupled with the even more ambiguous guidelines of the federal government, this oversight has left Missouri subjected to millions of dollars in lost revenue due to document fraud. But in this case a solution to this growing problem has already been identified and needs only to be implemented.

In 2000, the Office of the Inspector General issued a report on Document Fraud. The report pointed out even then the misuse of vital and personal documents were rampant and each year with better technology the battle against document fraud would grow. The report's recommendation to use several documents as opposed to accepting just one for verification would be one good way to combat document fraud or misuse. Requiring the most information available from a document, such as requiring a long form birth certificate over computer generated short form birth certificate was a better way to combat misuse, insure proper identification and validate citizen status. Both recommendations are still valid today.

The time has come for Missouri and the nation as a whole to step up and improve its method of vetting its political candidates and entitlement recipients. In a time where virtually every state and Federal legislature is anguishing over cuts that need to be made to balance their budgets, it would be negligent not to improve and standardize identification requirements. With all the reported fraud in the entitlement programs alone, it could be likened to money lying on the ground. All we have to do is pick it up.

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