PER CURIAM.
After a 2006 statute was enacted requiring registered voters to present certain types of state- or federally-issued photographic identification in order to cast regular ballots, Ms. Kathleen Weinschenk and others sued the state to block enforcement of the law on the grounds that it interfered with the fundamental right to vote as protected by the Missouri and United States constitutions. Ms. Weinschenk and the others claimed that the new law required them and other voters — particularly those who are low-income, disabled or elderly and who do not have driver’s licenses — to spend money to obtain the necessary documents such as birth certificates in order to obtain the requisite photo ID. The trial court declared the law unconstitutional.
The State of Missouri and Intervenors Dale Morris and Senator Delbert Scott (collectively “Appellants”),1 appeal the trial court’s holding that the portion of Senate Bill 1014 (“SB 1014”) requiring presentation of certain forms of photographic identification (“photo ID”) to vote is unconstitutional because it violates Missourians’ rights to vote and to equal protection of the laws. These rights are at the core of Missouri’s constitution and, hence, receive state constitutional protections even more extensive than those provided by the federal constitution. The trial court so held because it found that those portions of SB 1014, which now are found at Section 115.427, 2006 Mo. Laws 728-32,2 (“Photo-ID Requirement”) unnecessarily burden the right to vote of Missourians who are properly registered but are nonetheless barred from voting at their designated voting precinct (or permitted to vote only provisionally) because they do not have one of the limited types of identifying documents required by SB 1014 to exercise their right of suffrage.
This Court agrees that SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement violates Missouri’s equal protection clause, Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 2, and Missouri’s constitutional guarantee of the right of its qualified, registered citizens to vote. Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 25; art. VIII, sec. 2. While this Court fully agrees with Appellants that there is a compelling state interest in preventing voter fraud, the evidence supports the trial court’s conclusion that the Photo-ID Requirement is not narrowly tailored to accomplish that purpose.
Witnesses in the trial court did testify to past instances of fraud in the form of absentee ballot and registration fraud. But, as Appellants acknowledge, the Photo-ID Requirement is intended to prevent only impersonation of a registered voter and will not affect absentee ballot or regis[205]*205tration fraud. The evidence below shows, however, that our legislature has already eliminated the opportunity to commit voter impersonation fraud with the enactment of the precautions it adopted in response to the federal Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”) in 2002.3 In fact, the only specific instance of possible fraud that has occurred since 2002 of which the witnesses were aware involved an attempt (whether intentional or accidental is not clear) by a person who had voted absentee to then vote in person. This conduct would not be affected by SB 1014 and was discovered and prevented prior to the implementation of the Photo-ID Requirement.
Appellants argue that the Photo-ID Requirement nonetheless should remain in place because it will reassure voters who “perceive” that fraud exists. As there has been no reported case of voter impersonation fraud since the HAVA protections were put in place, however, this justification places too great an encumbrance on the right to vote of Missourians who cannot show the very specific and often costly to obtain photo IDs the statute requires.
The statute does provide an alternative identification procedure that will allow voters who lack one of the specified photo IDs to cast a provisional ballot in certain elections between now and November 2008, but these transitional provisions are not severable from the permanent provisions, so this Court need not decide the question of their constitutionality.
Accordingly, the trial court judgment enjoining enforcement of the Photo-ID Requirement of SB 1014, now section 115.427, is affirmed.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement prohibits otherwise qualified and lawfully registered Missourians from voting if they present only out-of-state picture identification, social security cards, utility bills, school or work IDs, or other documents that served as proper identification under the version of section 115.427 in effect prior to the enactment of SB 1014.4 See sec. 115427.1, RSMo Supp.2005. As amended by SB 1014, section 115.427 now requires that Missourians present as identification a document issued by the state or federal governments that contains the person’s name as listed in the voter registration records, the person’s photograph, and an expiration date showing that the ID is not expired. Sec. 115.127.1.5 In practical effect, the only documents that most Missourians would have that could meet these requirements are a Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license or a United States [206]*206passport.6
The record below reveals that between 3 and 4 percent of Missouri citizens lack the requisite photo ID and would, thus, need to obtain a driver’s or non-driver’s license or a passport in order to vote. Specifically, the trial court noted that the Secretary of State’s analysis in August 2006 estimated that approximately 240,000 registered voters may not have the required photo ID and that the Department of Revenue’s estimate of the same was approximately 169, 215 individuals. Each of these forms of ID, however, normally costs money to obtain. This presents a practical problem for Missourians who will be discouraged from attempting to vote because of concern that they must pay a fee to do so. It also presents a legal problem in that the United States Supreme Court held in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 86 S.Ct. 1079, 16 L.Ed.2d 169 (1966), that any tax or fee imposed on the right to vote presents an undue burden on the exercise of that right. As the high court stated, wealth or payment of money should have no relation to the free exercise of the right to vote. Harper,383 U.S. at 668, 86 S.Ct. 1079 (“To introduce wealth or payment of a fee as a measure of a voter’s qualifications is to introduce a capricious or irrelevant factor”).
The legislature provided that Missourians who lack a proper unexpired photo ID may obtain a Missouri non-driver’s license free of charge. Sec. 115427.7. To aid them in doing so, SB 1014 provides that “mobile processing units,” at which these free non-driver’s licenses can be obtained, will be made available upon request to “any disabled or elderly person otherwise competent to vote ... [who is] physically unable to otherwise obtain” a non-driver’s license. Id.
SB 1014 also provides a mechanism for waiving the Photo-ID Requirement for certain classes of persons who are otherwise registered and meet all of Missouri’s constitutional qualifications to vote but, under SB 1014, nonetheless would be denied the right to vote for lack of a proper ID. Those persons can cast a “provisional ballot” if they sign an affidavit swearing that the reason they have no acceptable photo ID is that they are unable to obtain such identification because of a disability or handicap, because of a sincerely held religious belief, or because they were born on or before 1941. Sec. 1154274. Lack of funds or time to undertake the sometimes laborious process of obtaining a proper photo ID in situations in which a birth certificate is not easily available or in which a woman has changed her name since birth are not grounds for casting a provisional ballot under this provision.7
In addition, the provisional ballot will not be counted unless the signature on the [207]*207affidavit matches the signature on file with the election authority. Id. An election official testified below that signatures may change over time or due to disability or age. Further, the trial court found that at least one of the individual plaintiffs in this case “is unable to make a consistent signature or mark, [and] therefore, her signature will not match the signature on her voter registration record.” Nonetheless, no exception to the signature match requirement is made for Missourians who are unable, because of disability or age, to make a signature or whose signature has changed due to disability or the passage of time since they made their original signature when they initially registered to vote. Thus, such persons’ provisional ballots will not be counted under the statute.8
Plaintiffs allege that the particular Photo-ID Requirement set out in SB 1014 (unlike the anti-fraud ID provisions required under HAVA and in effect in Missouri from 2002 until SB 1014 became effective) does not pass constitutional scrutiny on a multitude of grounds.9 The trial court agreed that Plaintiffs established the unconstitutionality of SB 1014 on three grounds relating to the burdens the law imposes on Missourians’ free exercise of their right to vote as set out in the Missouri Constitution.10
More specifically, the trial court agreed with Plaintiffs that, while on its face the Photo-ID Requirement appears to permit Missourians without an acceptable photo ID to obtain one without cost, in reality it does not do so because the Photo-ID Re[208]*208quirement of SB 1014 must be read together with the requirements of the Federal REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-13, Title II. That federal act does not permit Missouri to issue “free” non-driver’s licenses to its citizens unless applicants first present identification such as a United States passport or birth certificate. Id.; see also 12 CSR 10-2LW-
Both passports and birth certificates are themselves costly. In fact, the record reveals that Missouri charges $15 to provide the certified, embossed copy of a birth certificate required by the Federal REAL ID Act to obtain a non-driver’s license. Missourians born in other states must pay fees ranging from $5 to $80 to obtain official copies of their birth certificates. A passport is even more expensive. The record reveals that a person born in the United States who wishes to obtain a United States passport must pay between $97 and $286, depending on the speed with which one may need the passport. For a person born outside the country, the cost of a passport may be higher due to the cost of additional documents needed as proof of citizenship or naturalization.11
Furthermore, the record shows that if a voter’s name has changed, he or she must supply additional documentation to obtain one of the requisite photo IDs.12 Names change for a myriad of reasons in our society; women often follow the social custom of taking their husband’s name upon marriage; in the event of a divorce, women occasionally revert to using their maiden name; certain individuals choose to change their name for personal or political reasons; still others experience a name change when their parents’ marital status changes subsequent to birth. All those citizens who lack a proper photo ID and whose names have changed from the time they received their birth certificate (or their passport) must obtain additional documentation of the name change (e.g., certified marriage certificate, certified divorce decree, amended birth certificate) to obtain an ID that comports with the requirements of SB 1014. This additional documentation requires the payment of further fees. For example, the cost of a certified copy of a marriage license ranges from $5 to $30.
The trial court also noted that, in addition to the monetary costs imposed on persons seeking to obtain the proper photo ID, the process to do so imposes additional practical costs, including navigating state and/or federal bureaucracies, and travel to and from the Department of Revenue and other government agencies. One of these [209]*209practical costs is the time it takes to receive the appropriate documentation. In Missouri, the waiting period for a birth certifícate alone is six to eight weeks. In Louisiana, the birthplace of many Katrina refugees who have taken shelter in Missouri, the processing period is eight to ten weeks. Should citizens need additional documents, the bureaucratic hurdles and waiting periods would increase.
Plaintiffs claim that for many of Missouri’s qualified voters, including the poor, elderly and disabled, these hurdles to obtaining the proper photo ID are not insignificant. The trial court agreed, finding these concerns real rather than speculative based on evidence pertaining to the individual plaintiffs, all of whom are qualified Missouri voters who lack an acceptable photo ID and who would struggle or be unable to obtain one.
For example, Ms. Weinschenk testified that she does not currently have a birth certificate. She was born in Arkansas, where the fee to obtain a birth certificate is $12. Ms. Weinschenk has cerebral palsy. She testified that, although obtaining a proper photo ID is a substantial burden because of her disability, she is not “unable” to do so. But, even could she truthfully swear that her disability prevented her from obtaining the proper photo ID needed to vote, because her disability prevents her from making a consistent signature mark, her signature will not match the signature on her voter registration record. Thus, any provisional ballot she casts will not be counted.
The record also contains evidence regarding the situation of other plaintiffs. Mr. William Kottmeyer has limited mobility, making it difficult for him to gather the necessary documents to obtain a non-driver’s license and to stand in line at the Department of Revenue. Mr. Robert Pund has a physical condition that requires him to arrange transportation to and from the Department of Revenue and to employ an attendant to assist him in order to obtain a non-driver’s license. Ms. Amanda Mullaney was born in Kentucky, and her current name does not match the name on her birth certificate because her parents were not married at the time of her birth. Thus, to obtain the proper photo ID needed to vote, she will have to provide proof of her name change by means of either a certified court order or a certified amended birth certificate. Mr. Richard von Glahn unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a non-driver’s license last June and was told that, since he was not over 65-years-old, the ID would cost him $11. Additionally, Mr. von Glahn lacked a birth certificate, for which the state of his birth, Ohio, charges $20. Ms. Maudie Mae Hughes was born in Mississippi, but the state has repeatedly informed her that it does not have any record of her birth, thereby compounding her difficulties in obtaining the photo ID necessary to vote in Missouri.
The trial court found the evidence pertaining to each of these plaintiffs to be credible. It also found credible testimony from five state and local Missouri election officials regarding the nature of voter fraud currently experienced in Missouri. These government officials, all of whom have been closely involved with Missouri elections in their official capacities and have many years of experience,13 testified [210]*210that voter impersonation fraud is not a problem in Missouri. For instance, Ms. Betsy Byers, the Co-Director of Elections for the Secretary of State’s Office for the last five years, testified that, since 2000, she has not received any reports of voter impersonation fraud from anywhere in the state. During that same period, she received reports of absentee ballot fraud, but testified that the Photo-ID Requirement does not solve such problems.14
Adding to the testimony of these government officials, Plaintiffs also presented exhibits indicating that voter impersonation fraud is not a problem in Missouri. In a letter to Governor Matt Blunt, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan echoed the sentiments of Ms. Byers, stating there is no evidence that voter impersonation fraud actually exists or that the Photo-ID Requirement would solve any existing problems in our elections system.
In addition, the record contains two letters written in 2004 by then-Secretary of State Matt Blunt on the subject of voter fraud. He described Missouri’s statewide elections in 2002 and 2004 to then-Governor Bob Holden as “two of the cleanest and problem free elections in recent history.” To the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Blunt characterized the same elections as “fraud-free.”
While Appellants offered affidavits of persons who reached conclusions contrary to some of those offered by Plaintiffs’ witnesses, the trial court found Plaintiffs’ evidence and witnesses to be more credible, and this Court considers the record in the light most favorable to the judgment of the trial court. Reddish v. Heartland Auto Plaza, 197 S.W.3d 634, 636 (Mo.App. S.D.2006).
Thus, this Court turns to the issue whether the Photo-ID Requirement of SB 1014 can withstand constitutional scrutiny despite the cost and other burdens the trial court found it placed on qualified Missouri voters. Whether a statute is unconstitutional is a question of law, the review of which is de novo. Doe v. Phillips, 194 S.W.3d 833, 841 (Mo. banc 2006). Because a statute is cloaked in a presumption of constitutionality, an appellate court may find the statute unconstitutional only if it clearly contravenes a specific constitutional provision. State v. Kinder, 89 S.W.3d 454, 459 (Mo. banc 2002). “Nonetheless, if a statute conflicts with a constitutional provision or provisions, this Court must hold the statute invalid.” Id.
II. EQUAL PROTECTION ANALYSIS
A. Framework for Evaluating an Equal Protection Clause Challenge.
Both the United States and Missouri constitutions guarantee to their citizens the enjoyment of equal protection of the laws. U.S. Const. amend. XIV, sec. 1 (“No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”); Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 2 (“all persons ... are entitled to equal rights and opportunity under the law”). Courts undertake a two-part analysis to determine the constitutionality of a statute under either the state or federal equal protection clause. The first step is to determine whether the statute implicates a suspect class or impinges upon a fundamental right explicitly or implicitly protected by the Constitution. Etling v. [211]*211Westport Heating & Cooling Services., Inc., 92 S.W.3d 771, 774 (Mo. banc 2003); accord Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools, 487 U.S. 450, 457-58, 108 S.Ct. 2481, 101 L.Ed.2d 399 (1988). “If so, the classification is subject to strict scrutiny.” Etling, 92 S.W.3d at 774. If not, the classification will be subject to rational basis scrutiny. Id.
The second step is to apply the appropriate level of scrutiny to the challenged statute. In order to survive strict scrutiny, a limitation on a fundamental right must serve compelling state interests and must be narrowly tailored to meet those interests. Komosa v. Komosa, 939 S.W.2d 479, 482 (Mo.App. E.D.1997) (“Any state restriction which significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right is subject to strict scrutiny and cannot be upheld unless it is supported by sufficiently important state interests and is closely tailored to effectuate only those interests.”). See also Manifold v. Blunt, 863 F.2d 1368, 1373 (8th Cir.1988) (“The application of strict scrutiny for purposes of equal protection challenges ... involves a two-part analysis: the restriction must be necessary to serve a compelling state interest, and may not go beyond what the state’s interest actually requires.”).
B. Voting is a Fundamental Right, Particularly under the Missouri Constitution.
The Missouri Constitution expressly guarantees that “all elections shall be free and open; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.” Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 25. Additionally, rather than leaving the issue of voter qualification to the legislature, the Missouri Constitution has established an exclusive list of qualifications necessary to vote in Missouri. Mo. Const. art. VIII, sec. 2 (“All citizens of the United States ... over the age of eighteen who are residents of this state and of the political subdivision in which they offer to vote are entitled to vote at all elections by the people, if ... they are registered within the time prescribed by law”). These constitutional provisions establish with unmistakable clarity that the right to vote is fundamental to Missouri citizens.15
The express constitutional protection of the right to vote differentiates the Missouri constitution from its federal counterpart. Federal courts also have consistently held that the right to vote is equally fundamental under the United States Constitution. See, e.g., Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964) (“The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society”); Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17-18, 84 S.Ct. 526, 11 L.Ed.2d 481 (1964) (“No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live”). But, the right to vote in state elections is conferred under federal law only by implication, not by express guarantee. See Harper v. Virginia State Bd. Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 665, 86 S.Ct. 1079, 16 L.Ed.2d 169 (1966) (“the right to vote in state elections is nowhere expressly mentioned” in the United States Constitution).
Moreover, the qualifications for voting under the federal system are left to legislative determination, not constitutionally [212]*212enshrined, as they are in Missouri. Compare U.S. Const. art. I, sec. 2 (providing that “Electors” shall be equivalent to those for state positions) with Mo. Const, art. VIII, sec. 2 (establishing exclusive qualifications for voting in Missouri).16 Compare also U.S. Const. amend. XV (protecting right to vote from abridgment “on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude”) with Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 25 (protecting right to vote from all “power, civil or military” that “interferes to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage”).
Due to the more expansive and concrete protections of the right to vote under the Missouri Constitution, voting rights are an area where our state constitution provides greater protection than its federal counterpart. See California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 1013-14, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171 (“It is elementary that States are free to provide greater protections ... than the [federal Constitution requires.”); State v. Rushing, 935 S.W.2d 30, 34 (Mo. banc 1996) (“Provisions of our state constitution may be construed to provide more expansive protections than comparable federal constitutional provisions.”); State ex rel. J.D.S. v. Edwards, 574 S.W.2d 405, 409 (Mo. banc 1978) (holding that Missouri Constitution due process and equal protection clauses provide more protection than United States Constitution where United States Supreme Court precedent “dilute[s] these important rights”).17
Of course, some regulation of the voting process is necessary to protect the right to vote itself. Such regulations are in place in all state and federal elections, and the Missouri Constitution further specifically delegates to the legislature the right to regulate registration. Mo. Const. art. VIII, sec. 5. In addition, many matters may tangentially affect voting, such as rules regarding who may run for office and how candidates are listed on ballots. For this reason, the extent of the burden this statute imposes on the right to vote must be evaluated before determining the level of scrutiny it will receive.
C. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement Burdens Missourians’ Fundamental Right to Vote.
The record supports the trial court’s determination that SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement places a burden on the right of Missourians to vote. As set out at length above, it requires each of the individual plaintiffs in this case to present a Missouri driver’s license, a Missouri non-driver’s license, or a United States passport on election day in order to vote. Sec. 115427.1. The record reveals that between 3 and 4 percent of Missouri citizens [213]*213(estimates vary from 169,215 to 240,000 individuals) lack the requisite photo ID. Appellants concede that many of these citizens, including all of the individual plaintiffs in this case, are eligible to vote and, in many cases, are already registered to vote. Nevertheless, under the new law these eligible registered voters will not be able to cast a regular ballot (or after 2008 any ballot at all) unless they undertake to obtain one of the requisite photo IDs. This will constitute a dramatic increase in provisional ballots over the previous law, as only 8,000 provisional ballots were cast statewide in the 2004 general election.18 As conceded by Appellants, denial of the right to vote to these Missourians is more than a de minimis burden on their suffrage.19
It is to these citizens that the Court directs its attention, as it determines whether this statute places into jeopardy their ability to exercise their fundamental right to vote under article I, section 25 of the Missouri Constitution. To do so, the Court must examine the required processes for them to obtain a photo ID to determine the extent of the burden it imposes on their right to vote.
1. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement requires payment of money to exercise the right to vote.
Those citizens who do not possess the requisite photo ID, with few exceptions, must expend money to gather the necessary documentation to obtain it in order to exercise their right to vote. Appellants argue that because the documentation-related expenses are one step removed from obtaining the photo ID, which itself is “free,” those expenses should not be considered in this Court’s analysis. The fact that Missouri has waived collection of costs normally charged to persons seeking a non-driver’s license does not make that license “free” if Missourians without certified copies of birth certificates or passports must still expend sums of money to obtain the license. Many voters who presently lack one of the required photo IDs would have to, at the very least, expend money to obtain a birth certificate. In Missouri, obtaining a birth certificate requires at least a $15 payment, which, Appellants conceded at oral argument, is not a de minimis cost. If the citizen requires documentation beyond a birth certificate, the costs are greater.
Although this Court has not previously had occasion to evaluate the validity of putting a direct or indirect price or fee on the franchise under the Missouri Constitution, the United States Supreme Court held, in the context of addressing a $1.50 poll tax: “Wealth or fee-paying has ... no relation to voting qualifications; the right to vote is too precious, too fundamental to be so burdened.” Harper, 383 U.S. at 670, 86 S.Ct. 1079. While requiring payment to obtain a birth certificate is not a poll tax, as was the $1.50 in Harper, it is a fee that qualified, eligible, registered voters who lack an approved photo ID are required to pay in order to exercise their right to free suffrage under the Missouri Constitution.20 Harper makes clear that all fees that impose financial burdens on [214]*214eligible citizens’ right to vote, not merely poll taxes, are impermissible under federal law. There can be no lesser requirement under Missouri law.
Appellants highlight that the federal courts in Indiana and Georgia each rejected claims that photo ID requirements constitute a poll tax, see Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, 439 F.Supp.2d 1294, 1355 (N.D.Ga.2006); Ind. Democratic Party v. Rokita, No. 05-CV-0634-SEB-VSS, 2006 WL 1005037, at *38, — F.Supp.2d - (S.D.Ind. Apr.14, 2006), and urge this Court to do likewise.
This case stands in stark contrast to the Georgia and Indiana cases, for their decisions were largely based on those courts’ findings that the parties had simply presented theoretical arguments and had failed to offer specific evidence of voters who were required to bear these costs in order to exercise their right to vote.21 Plaintiffs in this case, on the other hand, offered testimony of specific Missouri voters who mil have to incur the costs associated with birth certificates and other documentation to acquire a photo ID and vote. Specifically, Plaintiff Weinschenk will have to pay $12 for her birth certificate; Plaintiff von Glahn, who was asked to pay $11 for his “free” non-driver’s license required to vote under the statute, will have to pay another $20 for his birth certificate. Others, like Plaintiff Mullaney, may have to incur more substantial costs for additional documentation because their names have changed since their birth. Additionally, elections officials testified to the substantial number of other otherwise qualified Missouri voters who also must pay a fee in order to vote.
Based on this evidence, the trial court found that this cost was directly connected to Plaintiffs’ exercise of the right to vote. The trial court also found that the citizens who currently lack the requisite photo ID are generally “the least equipped to bear the costs.” For Missourians who live beneath the poverty line, the $15 they must pay in order to obtain their birth certificates and vote is $15 that they must subtract from their meager ability to feed, shelter, and clothe their families. The exercise of fundamental rights cannot be conditioned upon financial expense. Cf. Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 16-19, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956) (holding that due process and equal protection require that indigent defendants are entitled to pursue appeals without payment of costs). In this case, Plaintiffs proved that these costs must be incurred for citizens who lack the SB 1014 mandated photo IDs to exercise their right to vote.
2. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement requires time and ability to navigate bureaucracies in order to vote.
Persons who wish to vote who do not already have the requisite photo IDs must arrange to obtain them by presenting a birth certificate or passport and, if necessary, proof of name changes. To do so requires both funds and advance planning to allow for the six to eight weeks that the record shows it takes to obtain a Missouri birth certificate (which is more time than exists between the date of this decision and the next general election). Once the birth certificate is in hand, the voter must use it to obtain one of the requisite photo IDs. “This is plainly a cumbersome proce[215]*215dure.” Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528, 541, 85 S.Ct. 1177, 14 L.Ed.2d 50 (1965) (holding that six-month advance registration to avoid poll tax unduly burdened the right to vote). Those things that require substantial planning in advance of an election to preserve the right to vote can tend to “eliminate from the franchise a substantial number of voters who did not plan so far ahead.” Id. at 589 — 40, 85 S.Ct. 117722
Evaluating a similar procedure mandated by the Georgia photo ID law (which was found to violate the federal constitution), a Georgia federal district court concluded that “many voters who are elderly, disabled, or have certain physical or mental problems simply cannot navigate that process or any long waits successfully.” Common Cause/Georgia, 439 F.Supp.2d at 1347.
As it will require payment of money and significant advance planning to obtain necessary documentation, the Photo-ID Requirement is an “onerous procedural requirement which effectively handicap[s] exercise of the franchise.” Lane v. Wilson, 307 U.S. 268, 275, 59 S.Ct. 872, 83 L.Ed. 1281 (1939).23 It is undisputed that between 3 and 4 percent of the population, some 169,000 to 240,000 Missourians, and each of the individual plaintiffs here, currently do not possess the type of photo ID required by SB 1014 to obtain a regular ballot to vote. This Court agrees with the trial court that the Photo-ID Requirement of SB 1014 represents a heavy and substantial burden on Missourians’ free exercise of the right of suffrage.
D. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement is Subject to Strict Scrutiny.
In light of the substantial burden that the Photo-ID Requirement places upon the right to vote, the statute is subject to strict scrutiny. This is consistent with the past decisions of Missouri courts, which have uniformly applied strict scrutiny to statutes impinging upon the right to vote.24
Missouri election-law cases in which strict scrutiny was not applied simply recognize, as does this Court today, that reasonable regulation of the voting process and of registration procedures is necessary to protect the right to vote.25 So long as those regulations do not impose a heavy burden on the right to vote, they [216]*216will be upheld provided they are rationally related to a legitimate state interest. If the regulations place a heavy burden on the right to vote, as here, our constitution requires that they be subject to strict scrutiny.
Appellants’ argument that this Court should not apply strict scrutiny but should apply a “flexible” test for examining voting restrictions such as that announced by the United States Supreme Court in Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 112 S.Ct. 2059, 119 L.Ed.2d 245 (1992), also is not persuasive. Here, the issue is constitutionality under Missouri’s Constitution, not under the United States Constitution. Even under Burdick’s “flexible” test, however, a court will “weigh the character and magnitude of the asserted injury to the rights protected ... against the precise interests put forward by the State as justifications for the burden imposed by its rule, taking into consideration the extent to which those interests make it necessary to burden the plaintiffs rights.” Id. at 434, 112 S.Ct. 2059. When those rights are subject to “reasonable nondiscriminatory restrictions,” rational basis scrutiny applies. Id. When those rights are subject to “severe restrictions,” the Supreme Court has directed that strict scrutiny applies. Id. Because, here, the restrictions on the right to vote are severe, strict scrutiny would also adhere under the federal constitutional provision.
Several federal courts that have evaluated these types of burdens on the right to vote since Burdick are in accord that strict scrutiny must apply to direct burdens on the right to vote. See Republican Party of Arkansas v. Faulkner County, Arkansas, 49 F.Sd 1289, 1298-99 (8th Cir.1995) (applying strict scrutiny to Arkansas requirement that political parties conduct and pay for primary elections because such provisions had the effect of forcing “many voters who wish[ed] to vote in the Republican primary to vote either in the Democratic primary or not at all,” thereby burdening “the ability of persons to exercise their right to vote for the person or persons of their choice.”).26
Applying strict scrutiny, the issues are whether the burden that SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement places upon Missourians’ fundamental right to vote serves a compelling state interest and whether it is necessary and narrowly tailored to accomplish that interest. Komosa, 939 S.W.2d at 482.
E. Missouri has a Compelling Interest in Combating Election Fraud
[217]*217Missouri’s broad interests in preserving the integrity of the election process and combating voter fraud are significant, compelling and important.
F. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement is Not Necessary or Narrowly Tailored to Meetiny the State’s Compelling Interest in Preventing Impersonation Fraud at the Polling Place.
Recognizing that the State does have compelling interests in preserving electoral integrity and combating voter fraud, the issue becomes whether the record shows that the type of Photo-ID Requirement enacted in SB 1014 “is necessary to accomplish a compelling state interest.” Etling, 92 S.W.3d at 774. Because, for the reasons set out above, this Court has found that the Photo-ID Requirement imposes a severe burden on the right to vote, it can survive strict scrutiny only by showing it is necessary to accomplish a compelling state interest or that it is “narrowly drawn to express the compelling state interest at stake.” In re Norton, 123 S.W.3d at 173.
Yet, Appellants do not demonstrate that SB 1014’s requirement of state or federally issued, non-expired photo IDs is strictly necessary or narrowly tailored to accomplish the State’s asserted interests. To the contrary, Appellants concede that the only type of voter fraud that the Photo-ID Requirement prevents is in-person voter impersonation fraud at the polling place. It does not address absentee voting fraud or fraud in registration. While the Photo-ID Requirement may provide some additional protection against voter impersonation fraud, the evidence below demonstrates that the Photo-ID Requirement is not “necessary” to accomplish this goal. As the trial court found: “No evidence was presented that voter impersonation fraud exists to any substantial degree in Missouri. In fact, the evidence that was presented indicates that voter impersonation fraud is not a problem in Missouri.”27
The only evidence that Appellants marshal of voter impersonation fraud occurred prior to the enactment of identification requirements in 2002. The 2002 identification law, enacted in response to the federal HAVA law, required voters to present some proof of identity or residence when they arrived at the polling place. The list of acceptable identification under the 2002 requirements is much broader than the three types of photo ID that SB 1014 allows and included a utility bill, bank statement, expired passport, out-of-state driver’s license, and other commonly available documents of identification. Sec. 115427, RSMo Supp.2005.
Although Appellants protest that some of the approved identification documents under the 2002 law do not provide proof of eligibility to vote, neither does the Photo-ID Requirement. The Photo-ID Requirement assists in prevention of voter impersonation, but the evidence reveals that the 2002 requirements, which are much less restrictive on the right to vote, have been sufficient to prevent this type of fraud. These facts compel the conclusion that the Photo-ID Requirement is not “necessary to accomplish a compelling state interest.”
The conclusion that the Photo-ID Requirement is not necessary to serve the State’s asserted end should not be taken as an indication that the State’s interest in [218]*218combating voter fraud is insubstantial. Indeed, legislative efforts to combat the types of voter fraud and opportunities for voter fraud that persist in Missouri, such as absentee ballot fraud, voter intimidation, and inflated voter registration rolls, should be encouraged. Where the legislature places a heavy burden on the right to vote, however, the Missouri Constitution requires that the burden be justified by a compelling interest and the statute be narrowly tailored or necessary to accomplish the statutory goals. The Photo-ID Requirement could only prevent a particular type of voter fraud that the record does not show is occurring in Missouri, yet it would place a heavy burden on the free exercise of the franchise for many citizens of this State.28
Appellants also urge that the State has a compelling interest in combating perceptions of voter fraud. While the state does have an interest in combating those perceptions, where the fundamental rights of Missouri citizens are at stake, more than mere perception is required for their abridgement.29 Perceptions are malleable. While it is agreed here that the State’s concern about the perception of fraud is real, if this Court were to approve the placement of severe restrictions on Missourians’ fundamental rights owing to the mere perception of a problem in this instance, then the tactic of shaping public misperception could be used in the future as a mechanism for further burdening the right to vote or other fundamental rights. Moreover, the public could believe that the new law has prevented fraud in Missouri elections, whereas the type of fraud that has been shown to exist — fraud in registration and in absentee ballots — is not addressed by the Photo-ID Requirement and may still need resolution. See Jo Mannies, Suspect Voter Cards Found, St. [219]*219Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 11, 2006, at A1. The protection of our most precious state constitutional rights must not founder in the tumultuous tides of public misperception.
For these reasons, this Court holds that the Photo-ID Requirement violates the equal protection clause of the Missouri Constitution, article I, section 2.
III. SEVERABILITY
Recognizing that it will take time for many Missouri voters to obtain the photo ID required under SB 1014, the legislature enacted a transitional provision that allows voters who lack the requisite photo ID to cast a provisional ballot in certain elections between now and November 2008.30 During this transitional period, an otherwise qualified voter who lacks the requisite photo ID can cast a provisional ballot after presenting one of the many forms of identification that could be presented under the previous version of section 115.427. Sec. 115.127.13. As with the provisional ballots cast under the exception to the Photo-ID Requirement discussed in Section I above, for a transitional-period provisional ballot to be counted, the signature on the affidavit must match the signature on file with the election authority, however long ago the signature on file was made and without regard to any disability or infirmity of the voter. Id.
This Court rejects Appellants’ argument that, even if constitutional infirmities exist as to the permanent provisions of the Photo-ID Requirement, the transitional provisions are severable from the permanent provisions and could go into effect despite the invalidity of the permanent provisions.
While there is a presumption that “[t]he provisions of every statute are sev-erable,” Sec. 1.140, RSMo 2000, if any provision of a statute is found unconstitutional, the remaining provisions cannot stand if they are “so essentially and inseparably connected with, and so dependent upon, the void provision that it cannot be presumed the legislature would have enacted the valid provisions without the void one.” Id. In other words, “[t]he test of the right to uphold a law, some portions of which may be invalid, is whether or not in so doing, after separating that which is invalid, a law in all respects complete and susceptible of constitutional enforcement is left, which the Legislature would have enacted if it had known that the exscinded portions were invalid.” State ex rel. Audrain County v. Hackmann, 275 Mo. 534, 205 S.W. 12, 14 (banc 1918) (emphasis added); accord City of Springfield v. Sprint Spectrum, L.P., 203 S.W.3d 177, (Mo. banc 2006), 2006 WL 2257073, *8.
The transitional provision of SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement is just that: transitional. After November 2008, Missouri voters who lack the requisite photo ID will no longer be able to vote, by provisional ballot or otherwise unless they fall within the limited class of voters allowed to cast a provisional ballot under section 115.427.3’s exception to the Photo-ID Requirement discussed in Section I above. Nothing in SB 1014 suggests that the legislature would have enacted the transitional provisions without the permanent provisions. The transitional provisions are enacted as part of the same section, 115.427, as the permanent provisions and provide only a temporary exception to the otherwise valid and currently enforceable Photo-ID Re[220]*220quirement. Nothing in this section suggests that the legislature would have enacted only this transitional provision if it believed the law would simply revert to the previous statute after the transition ended in November 2008. A transition is inherently a step towards an end, not an end in itself.
Since the transitional provisions are “so essentially and inseparably connected with, and so dependent upon” the permanent provisions, Sec. l.llpO, RSMo 2000, these transitional provisions cannot be severed. While the legislature may remedy the constitutional problems that assail SB 1014⅛ Photo-ID Requirement, the Court cannot speculate as to the terms of some new statute as yet not enacted.
Partly in response to Appellants’ contention that the interim provisions of section 115.427 are severable from the remainder of that section, Plaintiffs make the additional argument that SB 1014 allows provisional voting (both the type allowed under the transitional provisions and the type allowed under section 115.427.3’s exception to the Photo-ID Requirement discussed above) only at federal elections and in primaries. If this is the case, it would present an additional and serious constitutional problem.
When provisional balloting was first instituted in Missouri in 2002, it was permitted only for primary and general elections in which candidates for federal or statewide offices were nominated or elected and for any election in which statewide issues were submitted to the voters. See sec. 115430.1, RSMo Supp.2005. The procedures for counting such ballots were set out in section 115.430. Id.
The provisional voting permissible under SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement states that such provisional ballots “shall be entitled to be counted, provided the election authority verifies the identity of the individual by comparing that individual’s signature to the signature on file with the election authority and determines that the individual was otherwise eligible to cast a ballot at the polling place where the ballot was cast.” Sec. 115427.13; accord Sec. 115427.3. The only statutory method of determining eligibility of those who cast such provisional ballots is pursuant to section 115.430. But, whether intentionally or through oversight, the legislature chose not to amend or delete subsection 115.430.1, which still provides that determining eligibility and counting provisional ballots may be made under that section only in primaries and statewide or federal elections.
The result is that either there is no provisional voting in local elections when the two provisions are read in pari mate-ría or else there is provisional balloting in such elections, but the statutes provide no means of determining the eligibility of those provisional voters and no safeguards for collecting and counting those votes, which would itself present serious constitutional problems. The dissent suggests a third approach: that the “internal inconsistency” in section 115.430 should be harmonized by reading the reference to section 115.427 in 115.430.2 to expand the scope of 115.430 to encompass “any election.” This interpretation would read section 115.430.1 out of the statute completely, which this Court is not permitted to do. Kearney Special Road Dist. v. County of Clay, 863 S.W.2d 841, 842 (Mo. banc 1993) (‘Where language of a statute is clear, courts must give effect to the language as written. Courts are without authority to read into a statute a legislative intent contrary to the intent made evident by the plain language.”) (citations omitted). In any event, since section 115.427 is stricken on other grounds, this Court need not conclusively resolve the issue regarding [221]*221how to interpret these incongruous provisions and leaves it to the legislature to clarify them.
Thus, without deciding the issue of whether the interim provisional ballots (or those provisional ballots available under section 115.427.3’s exception to the Photo-ID Requirement) are available only for federal or statewide elections and primaries, the Court holds that the transitional provisions of section 115.427.13 must be struck down together with the permanent provisions of SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement because the former is not severable from the latter.
IV. RIPENESS
The dissent characterizes this Court’s holding that the statute’s Photo-ID Requirement, which currently governs all elections in Missouri, is unconstitutional as “a straightforward violation of the ripeness doctrine.” Not so. First, the dissent’s analysis depends upon the severability of the transitional provisions. As this Court determines that the transitional provisions are not severable from the permanent provisions, it need not (and does not) reach the question of the constitutionality of the transitional provisions.
Second, even were the transitional provisions severable, an evaluation of the constitutionality of the permanent provisions would be ripe. To be ripe for judicial determination, a controversy must be “of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment.” Missouri Health Care Ass’n v. Attorney General of State, 953 S.W.2d 617, 620 (Mo. banc 1997). “[Cjonstitutional challenges to laws [are] ripe when the facts necessary to adjudicate the underlying claims were fully developed and the laws at issue were affecting the plaintiffs in a manner that gave rise to an immediate, concrete dispute.” Id. The Photo-ID Requirement unmistakably meets this standard.
If the Photo-ID Requirement is valid and enforceable, Missouri voters must take action and incur costs now, or at least before the transitional period ends in November 2008, in order to secure their ability to vote in the future. The transitional provisions central to the dissent merely provide a temporary alternative to the costly and burdensome procedure required under the permanent provisions to obtain an approved photo ID. Consequently, the dispute regarding the constitutionality of the Photo-ID Requirement is immediate and concrete.
Furthermore, the types of photo ID one must obtain, the procedures one must follow to obtain them, and the cost of any required supporting documentation were proved with sufficient certainty to the trial court. The only “fact” that the dissent posits is not fully developed is whether the legislature will take any future action that could possibly bring the statute into compliance with Missouri’s constitutional commands. This is no fact at all, and certainly no barrier to this Court’s determination of the constitutionality of this statute, which is presently in effect. While this Court shares the hope that the legislature will be able to rectify the problems identified here and pass a constitutional law that is less burdensome on the right to vote, the version of section 115.427 now in effect is the only one ripe for judicial consideration.
V. CONCLUSION
The Missouri Constitution provides a specific provision that enshrines the right to vote among certain enumerated constitutional rights of its citizens. Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 25. SB 1014’s Photo-ID Requirement creates a heavy burden on the right to vote and is not narrowly tailored [222]*222to meet a compelling state interest, so it falls afoul of the Missouri Constitution’s equal protection clause, Mo. Const. art I., sec. 2, and of Missourians’ specific constitutional protection of the right to vote. Mo. Const, art. I, sec. 25. For these reasons, the trial court judgment is affirmed.
WOLFF, C.J., STITH, TEITELMAN and WHITE, JJ., and BLACKMAR, Sr. J., and RAHMEYER, Sp. J., concur.
LIMBAUGH, J., dissents in separate opinion filed.
PRICE and RUSSELL, JJ., not participating.