Voter ID Laws

So I thought I'd ruminate for a moment about a subject that has creeped into the public square recently: Voter ID Laws. Texas is in a fight right now regarding a voter ID law they passed. Wisconsin passed a voter ID law but had it ruled unconstitutional by a Dane County judge. Proponents say they are necessary to prevent voter fraud, opponents say they are akin to a poll tax, which are forbidden by the 24th amendment. So that got me interested in looking at what these laws are all about.

First, the 24th amendment:
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.

With the recent supreme court decision regarding Congress�s ability to require a citizen to purchase health care or pay a fine that the court ruled to essentially be a tax, one could surmise that any requirement by a state to require a resident to purchase something in order to vote is likely a tax under the same logic. So that got me looking at what the Wisconsin law required under the law that was passed but rule unconstitutional.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures website, the Wisconsin law had 7 types of identification that it would have required an elector to present in order to vote:
A Wisconsin driver�s license
US uniformed service ID card
Wisconsin non-driver ID
US Passport
Certification of naturalization
ID card from an Indian tribe of WI
Or a student ID card that is less than two years expired

The most common type of ID is probably the driver�s license, and most of the rest are what you might think of as specialized ID cards. Not many of us are uniformed service members, most voters probably don�t have a recent student ID card, and most of us wouldn�t have been naturalized within the last 2 years. So really, the two or 3 that are even options to the majority of potential voters are a driver�s license, a non-driver ID (both of which need to be Wisconsin IDs), or a US passport.

If you have a driver�s license, there is no burden really for you to vote because you could argue that you don�t need the card to vote but rather to drive. So having it would moreso be viewed as �you have it anyway, so why not require you to show it�. But, not everyone has a driver�s license. If you don�t have a driver�s license, you can get a Wisconsin issued non-driver ID card. According to DMV.com, Wisconsin charges $33.50 for the ID card, and residents must apply in person at a DMV location.
So by my count, Wisconsin would have had 7 forms of ID that would be used for voter ID. 4 of those IDs are somewhat specialized that the person would obtain for some reason other than voting (like going to school or the act of becoming a citizen or being in the military). The other 3 (drivers, non drivers license, and passport) are all essentially discretionary forms of ID that someone can choose to obtain or not obtain, and all 3 cost the person a fee.

Now, on to some commentary. You don�t need a driver�s license to be a citizen of the US. You don�t need a state photo ID to be a citizen of the US. You don�t need a passport to be a citizen of the US. You don�t need a student ID, or military ID, a Native American ID, or naturalization papers to be a citizen of the United States. But Wisconsin attempted to make these forms of ID the required documents in order to vote. It would be one thing if Wisconsin provided some form of ID for no charge, which I don�t believe it did. If the state of Wisconsin provided free of charge any resident without the proper ID a state issued photo ID card, this might be different, and I don�t know that the law did that. Since the law requires you to obtain an ID that you have to pay for in order to cast a vote, it seems fairly blatant that this would not pass the test of the 24th amendment banning the �poll tax or any other tax�.