Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T22:55:50.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Historical Context of Voter Photo-ID Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2009

Chandler Davidson
Chandler Davidson
Affiliation:
Rice University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The issue before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Crawford case (Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd. 2008) was whether a law (Indiana Senate Enrolled Act No. 483) passed by the Indiana legislature requiring most voters to show a photo ID in order to cast a ballot violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs argued that it works an unfair hardship on many people who do not have the government-issued documents that count as a legitimate ID (Indiana Democratic Party et al., 12–16). They argued that the law, in effect, constitutes a poll tax, inasmuch as there are costs to obtain the right kind of photo ID, costs that unduly burden many eligible citizens wanting to exercise their right to vote.

Type
Symposium
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 93 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbott. 2006. “Attorney General Abbott Launches Training Initiative to Identify, Prosecute, Prevent Voter Fraud.” News release, January 25. http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1423.Google Scholar
Brennan Center for Justice. 2006. “Citizens without Proof: A Survey of Americans' Possession of Documentary Proof of Citizenship and Photo Identification.” Voting Rights and Elections Series. http://www.brennancenter.org/dynamic/subpages/download_file_39242.pdf.Google Scholar
Coalition on Homelessness, and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) and The League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO). 2005. “Let the People Vote: A Joint Report on Election Reform Activities in Ohio.”Google Scholar
Commons, John R. 1920. Races and Immigrants in America. New York: The Macmillan Co.Google Scholar
Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd. 2008. 553 U.S.Google Scholar
Economist. 2007. “Republicans in Texas: Monkey and Other Business,” May 31. http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9264314.Google Scholar
Editorial Board. 2006. “Are Democrats Being Unfairly Targeted?” Austin American-Statesman, September 27.Google Scholar
FAIR. 2007. “Texas: Illegal Aliens.” http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_researchab4e.Google Scholar
Franklin, John Hope, and Moss, Alfred A. Jr. 1988. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. 40th Anniversary ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Indiana Democratic Party et al. v. Todd Rokita et al. 2007. “Brief for Petitioners on a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.” No. 07-25.Google Scholar
Indiana Senate Enrolled Act. No. 483, Pub. L. No. 109-2005. Google Scholar
Kelley, S. E., Ayres, R. E., and Bowen, W. G.. 1967. “Registration and Voting: Putting First Things First.” American Political Science Review 61 (2): 359–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kousser, J. Morgan. 1974. The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880–1910. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lipton, Eric, and Urbina, Ian. 2007. “In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud.” New York Times, April 12. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp&adxnnix=1176372006-q6OHEvb%20ZBH7i2JW5V76Pw&oref=slogin.Google Scholar
Mack, Kristen. 2007. “In Trying to Win, Has Dewhurst Lost a Friend?” Houston Chronicle, May 17. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/mack/4814978.html.Google Scholar
McCook, J.J. 1892. “Venal Voting: Methods and Remedies.” The Forum 14: 171–6.Google Scholar
McCulloch, Albert J. 1929. Suffrage and Its Problems. Baltimore: Warwick and York.Google Scholar
Ogden, Frederick D. 1958. The Poll Tax in the South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Phillips, John B. 1906. “Educational Qualifications of Voters.” University of Colorado Studies, 55–62.Google Scholar
Texas Secretary of State. 2007. “Turnout and Voter Registration Figures (1970–Current).” http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml.Google Scholar
Vertuno, Jim. 2005. “With Filibuster Threat in the Air, Senate Dems Thwart Voter ID Bill.” Houston Chronicle, May 28. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3874330.Google Scholar
Wharton, Vernon Lane, 1947. The Negro in Mississippi: 1865–1890. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
William Crawford et al. v. Marion County Election Board et al. 2007. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Nos. 06-2218, 06-2317.Google Scholar