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The Historical Context of Voter Photo-IDLaws
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2009
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The issue before the U.S. Supreme Court in theCrawford case (Crawford v. MarionCounty Election Bd. 2008) was whether a law (IndianaSenate Enrolled Act No. 483) passed by the Indiana legislaturerequiring most voters to show a photo ID in order to cast a ballotviolates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs argued thatit works an unfair hardship on many people who do not have thegovernment-issued documents that count as a legitimate ID(Indiana Democratic Party et al., 12–16). Theyargued that the law, in effect, constitutes a poll tax, inasmuch asthere are costs to obtain the right kind of photo ID, costs thatunduly burden many eligible citizens wanting to exercise their rightto vote.
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