Poll Tax

31 August 2005



Georgia’s “Photo-ID-to-Vote” Rule is Unconstitutional

The state of Georgia recently passed a law governing how its elections are held that has some people up in arms. The law requires voters to produce a state-issued, photo ID card in order to vote. Civil rights groups objected that it is a return to “Jim Crow” rules to keep blacks from voting. Proponents say it will eliminate a great deal of voter fraud. The outcome of the debate, though, may hinge only on the fee charged to acquire such a card and not on any grand issues of justice.

In the bad old days, there were all kinds of rules in the South that were used to deny black American citizens the right to vote, as well as have any human dignity at all. It was the result of insufficient de-Dixification after the Civil War; the elites of the South remained in place rather than facing up to their crimes against humanity (Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were not hanged as they should have been). These Jim Crow laws were the American version of South Africa’s apartheid and were almost a big a stain upon the national honor as slavery itself. Any law, no matter how benign, that threatens a citizen’s franchise is inevitably seen through that prism.

That said, it is equally true that voter fraud is a problem in any democracy. The 2000 election may or may not have turned on fraud in Florida (although one is rather certain that the Supreme Court elected Mr. Bush 5-4), but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in November 2000 that more than 5,000 people voted in Georgia after their deaths in the two decades since 1980. Perhaps that is not enough to swing the White House from one party to another, but it might have shifted a sheriff’s race or a city council election. And the state of Georgia used to permit a voter to use virtually any document to identify himself, down to a utility bill without a photo. The opportunity for fraud was certainly there, and it is a tribute to Georgians that voter fraud hasn’t been worse.

However, there is a small problem in using state-issued, photo-ID’s as required by the new law. It’s the XXIV Amendment to the Constitition which reads in part, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.”

The state of Georgia issues ID cards through its Department of Motor Vehicles, which is standard for most US states. The website clearly says that the ID comes with a price tag: $20 for a 5-year card, and $35 for a card valid for a decade. In other words, there’s a poll tax in Georgia of $3.50 to $4 a year, in violation of the Constitution of the United States. There’s a simple solution, though – abolish the fee for ID cards. Driver’s licenses need not be affected, so the cost to the state would be minimal, and a model for the rest of the nation.



© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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