This poll tax isn't welcome
ON THE SURFACE, the question has the ring of common sense: Since Americans are asked to produce photo ID for all kinds of ordinary tasks -- to cash a check, to rent a video, to get on a plane -- why shouldn't citizens have to show proof of ID when voting? It's a question Republican lawmakers have been asking a lot lately, spurring a movement in Congress and a growing number of states to pass laws requiring photo ID at the polls.
Supporters say they are worried about voter fraud, a concern that apparently is on the minds of Massachusetts voters as well. In a recent Globe poll on the governor's race, 68 percent of voters said they either strongly supported or somewhat supported a voter ID proposal backed by Lieutenant Governor and Republican candidate Kerry Healey.
Unfortunately, the main reason a voter ID law sounds so sensible is that, for the past several years, protections long considered to be basic to a free society have been under regular attack. These days, every basic protection seems up for grabs. When the national conversation turns to the merits of torture and the need to track private telephone calls, chipping away at the bedrock of democratic government -- one man, one vote -- can't be far behind.
At least nine states are waging battles over voter ID laws. Last month, a Georgia judge ruled that a law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature was unconstitutional because it put up too many hurdles for citizens otherwise qualified to vote. A judge in Missouri came to a similar conclusion, offering a pointed reminder that, unlike driver's licenses, voter ballots should never involve bureaucratic hassle. ``The photo ID burden on the voter may seem minor . . . to the mainstream of our society for whom automobiles, driver's licenses, and even passports are a natural part of everyday life," the judge wrote. ``However, for the elderly, the poor, the undereducated or otherwise disadvantaged, the burden can be great, if not insurmountable."
Governors in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have vetoed voter ID laws. But in Indiana and Arizona, the laws have prevailed. They are being challenged, but for now they will be in effect when voters go to the polls in November. These state skirmishes seem destined to end up on the docket of the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, in Congress, the House passed a voter ID bill for federal elections. Under the bill, which the Senate has yet to consider, voters would have to produce either a birth certificate, a passport, or proof of naturalization in order to cast a ballot in the 2010 Congressional elections.
Two days after the House vote, a report by the widely respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that some 11 million citizens don't have a birth certificate or a passport in their home. The elderly are far more likely to lack such documents than the non elderly; low-income residents were nearly twice as likely not to have them. The script almost starts to write itself: About 2 million black and 4.5 million rural residents also lack the required documents, according to the report. No matter how you slice it, the numbers amount to a serious dismantling of voting rights.
It can cost anywhere from $5 to $23 to get a birth certificate; a passport costs between $87 and $97. To a lot of people, $97 might be the cost of a night out on the town. But any price tag on voting amounts to a poll tax, which is still illegal in this country.
The House bill calls on states to issue ID cards free to those who cannot afford them. To that, the National Governors Association says an existing federal mandate requiring states to provide new, secure licenses and identification cards will cost $11 billion. Would Congress care to write a check? If IDs were free and universally distributed, the policy would make sense, but they are not.
The idea of illegal immigrants or others invading the polls as imposters is far-fetched. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud; where isolated problems do exist, new voter registration databases (although another unfunded mandate from Congress) should address them.
Why not photo ID at the polls? Because democracy does not make any claims to protect rights to airline travel, personal banking, or a Blockbuster membership. What democracy does -- what it demands in order to live up to the name -- is to hand over power to its citizens through free elections, and to refrain from throwing obstacles in the way.
