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27 Geo. J. on Poverty L. & Pol'y 451 (2019-2020)
Voting While Poor: Reviving the 24th Amendment and Eliminating the Modern-Day Poll Tax

handle is hein.journals/geojpovlp27 and id is 467 raw text is: Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy Volume XXVII, Number 3, Spring 2020 Voting While Poor: Reviving the 24th Amendment and Eliminating the Modern-Day Poll Tax Valencia Richardson* The cost ofvoting is too high for millions ofeligible voters. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment was ratified to address barriers which specifically prevent the poor from voting, after Post-Reconstruction politicians erected poll taxes as an end-run around universal enfranchisement. Today, costs associated with complying with burdensome voting requirements push voters into an untenable choice: pay a price they cannot afford to vote, or not vote at all. This Note challenges existing case law to argue that modern-day poll taxes should be impermissible under the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. This Note proposes a new theory under which to state Twenty-Fourth Amendment claims for modern-day poll taxes which unconstitutionally force the poor to waive their right to vote. Three modern-day poll taxes are addressed: voter registration procedures, strict voter identification requirements, and polling place closure and consolidation. In arguing for specific modern-day poll taxes, this Note quantifies the costs ofvoting barriers for people living in poverty and uses that quantity to justify reducing those costs and to state constitutional claims ofburdens on the fundamental right to vote. Those costs bear stark resemblance to the costs of the literal poll taxes that precipitated the ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment and constitute an impermissible burden under the Supreme Court's existing doctrine regarding the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. I. INTRODUCTION .................................................... 452 II. VOTE SUPPRESSION OF THE POOR...................................453 III. THE TWENTY-FOURTH AMENDMENT'S DORMANT STATE ........ ......454 A. A History ofthe Poll Tax and the Ratification ofthe Twenty-Fourth Amendment ................................................ 454 B. Courts'Interpretation of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment ..... ...... 456 IV. How STATES IMPOSE MODERN-DAY POLL TAXES ............... .....458 A. Identifying Modern-Day Poll Taxes .............................. 458 1. In-Person Voting: Voter Identification. ................. .....459 2. In-Person Voting: Polling Place Closures ..................... 460 * J.D., Georgetown University Law Center (L'20); Editor-in-Chief, Georgetown Journal ofLaw and Modern Critical Race Perspectives (Vol. 12); B.A. Mass Communications, Louisiana State University, 2016. The author would like to thank the editors of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy, and Professor Peter Edelman for their work on this Note. The author dedicates this Note to advocates seeking to ensure the franchise for all citizens at all costs. 0 2020, Valencia Richardson. 451

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