Is Voter ID A Poll Tax Or Simply Common Sense?

by William Teach | July 12, 2012 3:06 am

That’s the question ABC News is asking after Eric Holder went off the reservation and proclaimed that requiring voters to show ID was ushering in the era of Jim Crow. Even though ID was required[1] to see Holder make his speech to the NAACP. And to see Mitt Romney. And for the upcoming Joe Biden appearance in front of the same group

(ABC News[2]) The Jim Crow-era poll taxes have been outlawed for more than 50 years, but if you ask Attorney General Eric Holder, they may be making a comeback in the form of state voter ID laws. [3]

“We call those poll taxes,” Holder said, detouring from his prepared remarks during a speech at the NAACP[4] on Tuesday to equate Texas’s photo ID law to the poll taxes of the early 1900s.

Those poll taxes were deemed unconstitutional by the 24th Amendment, but the analogy may not be completely off-base.

“The comparison is in the effects,” said Jane Dailey, a history professor at the University of Chicago. “They have an effect of discouraging voters in a more indirect way than poll tax laws, which have the same effect but are much more obviously standing in the way of Democratic participation.”

Why would showing ID be discouraging? People have to show ID for almost everything nowadays.

Voter ID laws, enacted in 11 states[5] over the past two years, require voters to show a government-issued photo ID that the state will provide for free. But while the ID is free, the documents residents need to prove their identity in order to get that ID, such as a birth certificate, are not.

An interesting argument. But,

Supporters of the voter ID laws claim the ID should not be an impediment to voting because everyone has access to a free ID and the documents required to get it are things that voters should already have.

“You have to have a birth certificate to enroll in our public schools,” Texas State Sen. Tommy Williams said during the Texas court trial this week. “I mean, it’s a very common thing that you have to have, and I don’t really see it — it’s just one of the things of life.”

I’ve taken a quick perusal through the requirements for many schools systems in deep blue areas, such as NYC, Boston, D.C., and LA, and they all have some sort of requirement for ID. In NYC, to enroll you need[6]

Obviously this means that the NYC public schools are practicing Jim Crow and trying to keep minorities from getting an education. In some liberal areas, such as my own home county in NC (Wake County[7] leans liberal), the parent needs an ID to register their kids for school. Why does the liberal education system hate Blacks and other minorities?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[8]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[9].

Endnotes:
  1. ID was required: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/07/10/naacp_requires_photo_id_to_see_holder_speak
  2. ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/voter-id-poll-tax-common-sense/story?id=16758232#.T_65YvXUREM
  3. state voter ID laws. : http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/states-with-strict-voter-photo-id-laws-more-than-tripled-in-2011/
  4. speech at the NAACP: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/eric-holder-dubs-texas-voter-id-law-a-poll-taxes/
  5. 11 states: http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/elections/voter-id.aspx
  6. enroll you need: http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/NewStudents/Peak+Enrollment.htm
  7. Wake County: http://www.wcpss.net/newcomer/getting-started/registration/second.html
  8. Pirate’s Cove: http://www.thepiratescove.us/
  9. @WilliamTeach: http://twitter.com/WilliamTeach

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/elections-polls/is-voter-id-a-poll-tax-or-simply-common-sense/