Posted by Mr. Vanos on Apr. 30, 2008 08:01

I'm sorry... to equate this to a modern-day poll tax situation is absurd. If you can't be bothered to take some prerequisite, SIMPLE, steps in order to vote, then you're too stupid to vote IMO. Tough crap I say. In my state, all you need for proof is a damn utility bill with your name on it! Some security there.

I see nothing wrong with a state issued photo ID. In our state, they are suggesting this and that it would be given away for free to those who can't afford it. Where's the problem? My state also already issues non-drivers photo IDs to people that need them for identification purposes.

Klep:  The problem is that in order to get this "free" photo-ID, you have to have...

Mr. Vanos:  I still think it's as absurd an argument as 2nd Amendment gun nuts use against...

Klep:  It's not reasonable unless it truly is free. At a minimum there must be no cost...

Mr. Vanos:  I agree it should be totally free an unencumbered, but I guarantee you that...

Klep:  Frankly the idea of requiring people to have an identification card at all is a...

Mr. Vanos:  I think it is reasonable to insure that the people that are voting are: 1. Who...

Gabu:  I'd agree if it weren't for the fact that there is basically no evidence of any...

Reynard:  Actually, when you think about it, the main potential for vote fraud tends to...

Mr. Vanos:  And how would you verify this??? The current system is largely based on the...

Mr. Vanos:  I thought about this some more last night and decided that at first thought it...

Voice of Wonder:  Hrm... the driver's license argument reminds me of the experiments done in many...

MrC:  It's called stuffing the ballot box, it happens all the time. I've voted in...

Posted by libc on Apr. 30, 2008 08:58

Justices Souter and Breyer did a good job of exposing the burdens that the Indiana law can impose.

From Justice Souter's opinion:

For those voters who can afford the round trip, a second financial hurdle appears: in order to get photo identification for the first time, they need to present "'a birth certificate, a certificate of naturalization, U. S. veterans photo identification, U. S. military photo identification, or a U. S. passport.'" As the lead opinion says, the two most common of these documents come at a price: Indiana counties charge anywhere from$3 to $12 for a birth certificate (and in some other States the fee is significantly higher), and that same price must usually be paid for a first-time passport, since a birth certificate is required to prove U.S. citizenship by birth. The total fees for a passport, moreover, are up to about $100. So most voters must pay at least one fee to get the ID necessary to cast a regular ballot. As with the travel costs, these fees are far from shocking on their face, but in the Burdick analysis it matters that both the travel costs and the fees are disproportionately heavy for, and thus disproportionately likely to deter, the poor, the old, and the immobile.

To be sure, Indiana has a provisional-ballot exception to the ID requirement for individuals the State considers"indigent" as well as those with religious objections to being photographed, and this sort of exception could in theory provide a way around the costs of procuring an ID. But Indiana's chosen exception does not amount to much relief.

The law allows these voters who lack the necessary ID to sign the poll book and cast a provisional ballot. As the lead opinion recognizes, though, that is only the first step; to have the provisional ballot counted, a voter must then appear in person before the circuit court clerk or county election board within 10 days of the election, to sign an affidavit attesting to indigency or religious objection to being photographed (or to present an ID at that point). Unlike the trip to the BMV (which, assuming things go smoothly, needs to be made only once every four years for renewal of nondriver photo identification), this one must be taken every time a poor person or religious objector wishes to vote, because the State does not allow an affidavit to count in successive elections. And unlike the trip to the BMV (which at least has a handful of license branches in the more populous counties), a county has only one county seat. Forcing these people to travel to the county seat every time they try to vote is particularly onerous for the reason noted already, that most counties in Indiana either lack public transportation or offer only limited coverage.

That the need to travel to the county seat each election amounts to a high hurdle is shown in the results of the 2007 municipal elections in Marion County, to which Indiana's Voter ID Law applied. Thirty-four provisional ballots were cast, but only two provisional voters made it to the County Clerk's Office within the 10 days. All 34 of these aspiring voters appeared at the appropriate precinct; 33 of them provided a signature, and every signature matched the one on file; and 26 of the 32 voters whose ballots were not counted had a history of voting in Marion County elections.

All of this suggests that provisional ballots do not obviate the burdens of getting photo identification. And even if that were not so, the provisional-ballot option would be inadequate for a further reason: the indigency exception by definition offers no relief to those voters who do not consider themselves (or would not be considered) indigent but as a practical matter would find it hard, for nonfinancial reasons, to get the required ID (most obviously the disabled).

And from Justice Breyer's opinion:

For one thing, an Indiana nondriver, most likely to be poor, elderly, or disabled, will find it difficult and expensive to travel to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, particularly if he or she resides in one of the many Indiana counties lacking a public transportation system. See ante, at 6ÃÃ'¢ÃÂ'Ã'€ÃÂ'Ã'Â"7 (SOUTER, J., dissenting) (noting that out of Indiana's 92 counties, 21 have no public transportation system at all and 32 others restrict public transportation to regional county service). For another, many of these individuals may be uncertain about how to obtain the underlying documentation, usually a passport or a birth certificate, upon which the statute insists. And some may find the costs associated with these documents unduly burdensome(up to $12 for a copy of a birth certificate; up to $100 for a passport). By way of comparison, this Court previously found unconstitutionally burdensome a poll tax of $1.50(less than $10 today, inflation-adjusted). Further, Indiana's exception for voters who cannot afford this cost imposes its own burden: a postelection trip to the county clerk or county election board to sign an indigency affidavit after each election.

I eliminated most of the internal citations to make it easier to read. The complete text, including the omitted citations, is here.