This is why a Voter ID Requirement is Equivalent to a Poll Tax

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections - image by The Progressive Family

If a Citizen must PAY to get an ID.

AND a Citizen must have an ID to VOTE.

THEN a Citizen must PAY to VOTE.

No truer words have been spoken. It’s really as simple as that. And if you think getting a voter ID is easy, that is your privilege talking. Even if you don’t think you come from privilege, if you aren’t living in poverty then it’s a failure of imagination on your part to think you have it figured out. It’s a failure to understand that your situation does not equal someone else’s situation. Every citizen has the right to vote and NO test shall ever be required to exercise that right.

You may think people are stupid. You may think they are not qualified. You might believe getting a voter ID is easy and if someone can’t then they probably shouldn’t vote anyway. It is your prerogative to believe all these things. But know this — you are still wrong. All citizens have the right to vote. There is no test. Period.

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia’s poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited poll taxes in federal elections; the Supreme Court extended this prohibition to state elections.

In a 6 to 3 vote, the Court ruled in favor of Ms. Harper. The Court noted that “a state violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth.” – Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, Wikipedia

/ image by The Progressive Family

Election 2012Voter SuppressionVoting Rights

#constitution#election#Equal Protection Clause#Fourteenth Amendment#Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections#photo ID#poll tax#vote#voter ID