It’s called a poll tax, and it’s supposed to be illegal.
A lot of things are supposed to be illegal.
Enforcement is the only part legality that really matters.
You’re thinking of the 24th Amendment, which reads:
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 way your state (and many others) gets around this is because the fee to get your ID is not technically a tax. It’s a fee. It’s a rather silly semantic difference, but that’s how the law works. You’re not paying a tax, and your right to vote isn’t being restricted because you didn’t pay a tax. You are being required to have a photo ID to vote, and the form of photo ID you’ve chosen to get (which might well be the easiest to access) requires you pay a fee to acquire.
Yes, this seems like a minor pedantic difference, but that’s kinda the point. The people who push these voter ID laws are doing the exact same thing people in the Jim Crow South did when they created poll taxes, poll tests, grandfather clauses, etc. They are trying to skirt around a law (in this case, the 24th Amendment, back then the 15th Amendment) in order to restrict the right to vote from people who should be protected.
I think many of those states either have to allow alternative forms of identification, or have to provide a separate ID for voting only. So they technically aren’t a poll tax, just drive 7 hours to this place, and then wait a long line for 5 hours to fill out a form in person and don’t forget to bring your birth certificate / naturalization papers (which cost money to obtain lol).
“What’s that? You don’t have a car and have to go to work 12 hours a day and don’t have the time? Welp, too bad, pleb.”
TLDR: Loopholes
It’s called a poll tax, and yes it’s supposed to be illegal. What godforsaken state (they all are in their own special way.) is pulling that?
It should be illegal but Roberts doesn’t give a shit.
If you are unable to afford the fee for a state id then you would be considered indigent and would be able to get some kind of waver for the fee.
So something is only a fee if you can’t afford it?
Loopholes baby!
